CORDELIA'S JOURNEYS

The Singapore Zoo

2012-01-26T13:03:00.001-05:00

I don't get to go to Madagascar this year but I did get to meet some lemurs

While I was in Singapore I got to visit the zoo. Its a pretty incredible place all around. They have managed to take down many of the usual fences that separate visitors from the animals so people can get really close to some of the animals. This lemur was in the rainforest section. He is used to being surrounded by humans and pretty much ignored me and let me look him right in the eyes from a few inches away. Amazing! Just amazing!

2012-01-23T19:14:00.003-05:00

In Bali there are many little Hindu temples where people leave daily offerings to a variety of deities

In every village in Bali, there are several temples and at least one small one in each home. Most of these temples are shrines and might not be regarded as actual temples, but the number of walled compounds are believed to reach to a total of 10,000. As you walk around you can enter the temples and admire the carvings and characters.

The Beaches of Bali and Lombok

2012-01-12T05:40:00.002-05:00

The beach at Gili Air

Sorry for the lack of updates or blog posts. Honestly I'm not sure what to write. It seems like bragging to say I spent this morning by a lovely pool after a breakfast of fresh juice and fruit and then had fresh seafood on the beach for lunch while watching fisherman bring in their catch.

Bali is lovely. I'm not sure it is an untouched as I may have thought before. There are plenty of tourists and hotels... but the beach I just visited, Sanur, is smartly developed with a brick walkway all the way up the coast for perfect morning walks and enough, but not too many, bars along the way to get fresh juice or a Bintang depending the time of day.

Last night I checked out the nightlife scene at the fancy beach area called Seminyak, and got to see the Australian revelry that is famous here. I am much more low key than all that, but I didn't want to miss seeing what else happens in Bali.

Before that I was in Lombok, another island to the East. My hotel there was right on the beach and I could lounge on the pillow covered deck area listening to the crashing waves. That place was also just down the

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beach from a lovely peaceful Hindu temple set on a cliff surrounded on three sides by water and waves. It was the first place I got to watch full on spiritual action and a place where people wore special dress and left many offerings to the deities. It was a lovely place to watch darkness set in.

The main town in Lombok is called Senggigi. (Just say it. Its a lovely fun name!) Senggigi is a bit more of a rundown Indonesian tourist town then the Island I had come from, but my hotel was a worthwhile stop as was Happy Bar, the local hot spot, where my tour friends danced away the last night to strangely covered classic rock tunes. (Why oh why does everyone love Bon Jovi so much? That is American music to them. )

The islands I was at before are called the Gilis and truly are paradise. Three swaths of white coral sand and bright blue water, with a few green trees and bungalows sprinkled on. There are no cars so people get around by horsecart and bicycle and that leads to a calm and silence that is impossible to find in the rest of traffic-packed motorbike-filled Indonesia. We also spent a lot of time at the perfect expat locale, Skallywags. (For those of you that travel off the beaten path a bit, you know the place. Every little detail has been thought of and the crowd is beautiful and one just feels more fancy and beautiful being there with them.)

In the Gilis I finally got to snorkel with the highlight of that being swimming with a 3 foot seaturtle. He seemed used to people like me and just swam along letting me swim beside him and touch him... but it was natural on a large reef, not a staged thing. More like two creatures in the wild... kind of magical and like something my mom used to describe when she swam with manta rays near my grandmothers house in the Virgin Islands many years ago. (I've always been jealous and trying to recreate the experience.)

Anyway as the trip winds up I have seen plenty of rolling vibrant green rice paddies in various stages of growth and been on many rural village tours where I tasted plenty of fresh fruits right off the trees. (Indonesia seems to grow EVERYTHING.) I've had fun meeting folks from around the world and learning more about Australia than I ever expected since Indonesia is practically in their backyard.

Now I have one more day to shop in Ubud, the Eat, Pray, Love town before heading back to a weekend with my friends in Jakarta. Then bye bye Indonesia...

Link to my Indonesia online photos

2012-01-10T04:00:00.000-05:00

Click here for the link to my Indonesia Photo Album. I'll be adding photos as I continue to travel.

Feeling like a Superstar in Indonesia

2012-01-08T00:38:00.001-05:00

My white face sticks out in many of the places I travel to, but something special happens in Indonesia. I was warned ahead of time but it happened even more than I suspected. What, you ask? I was made feel like a glamorous beautiful superstar! Yes, on a recent trip to Borobudur, a soaring ancient Buddhist temple I was constantly asked to be in photos.

I think the bombardment is more here because it seems like Indonesia has a swelling middle class and with that many many more people with cameras who want my moviestar like mug on them.

All I can say it is was loads of fun and now that I have reached touristy Bali where I am just another common looking face, I miss it.

2012-01-07T05:04:00.000-05:00

The pharmacy ladies in Pangandaran.The people of Java have the biggest smiles I have ever seen in world.

Farewell 2011, its been great. - My 2011 Holiday Letter

2012-01-07T03:37:00.000-05:00

Giraffe kisses in Kenya

Greetings from Indonesia!

Yes, here as 2011 closes, I'm off on another travel adventure. Circumstances changed which made me move on from my job and suddenly I found myself with some extra time and thought I'd check out another new place before looking for a new job. So far its great and filled with new experiences. You can check out my blog to see my thoughts and photos.

2011 has been a good year for me. I got to travel for work to Ethiopia, Ghana and Kenya and then for pleasure to China and North Korea (made even more interesting by Kim Jong-il's recent passing.) I got to spend time visiting friends in the US too and finally saw the much loved Asheville, NC, explored more of Detroit and revisited Martha's Vineyard after too long.

I continued the never ending journey of seeing every nook and cranny of New York. This summer I focused on all the new waterfront development and seeking out and learning about public and street art. I've started volunteering for Big Apple Greeter again where I take tourists out for private free tours to show them NY through a New Yorker's eye and get a chance to meet people from all over the world. I also hosted a few out of town visitors and want to send out the reminder that my extra bedroom is available for guests and I'll throw in my tour guide services for free!

A pink and green sari for Martha's Vineyard

So all in all life is pretty good. I'm not sure how I ended up being that cliche crazy single aunt who lives in NY and is always flying off to nutty places and bringing back odd gifts, but it happened and I have been embracing it and all the wonderful experiences it opens up for me. My end of the year reflections remind me that I'm lucky and I'll continue to take advantage of it by trying new things, taking risks and doing nice things for others.

Wishing you happiness, fulfillment and peace of mind.

Merry Christmas! Happy Holidays! Happy New Year!
Better get back to the pool!

Java Travels

2011-12-28T05:57:00.000-05:00

I'm writing from a steamy train looking out the window at rice field after rice field in a glowing green. Every inch of Indonesia seems to be cultivated with something or crowded with houses and traffic filled roads. In the last few years as the economy here has grown many people have bought motorbikes and they crowd the roads and weave in between the cars. The roads and infrastructure can't handle it all and its made for some extra long rides for us, especially since its the holiday season and school is off so people are on the go. On the bright side this means that we get to join them at the local sights which can be quite fun since for some reason many people ask to take photos with us like we are some exotic creature. It feels fun to be special! Plus Indonesians have wonderful big smiles and endlessly giggle which is infectious and the inevitable response to a photo session.

Me at sunrise at Mt. Bromo

This morning we all got up at 3am to set out to climb to the top of a volcano crater and watch the sunrise. It was fun to join tons of Indonesians at the look out point in the dark and watch the light change to suddenly see a valley with multiple volcanoes before us. Apparently Indonesia has so many active volcanoes because it lies on the major fault line where the European and Australian plates bang up against each other. The one we visited, Mt. Bromo, erupted with hot red lava at this time last year and damage from that including the grey ash is everywhere.

World Heritage Site: Borobudur

Other highlights of the last few days were:

*Visiting the UNESCO World Heritage site Borobudur, an old Buddhist temple, that is one Indonesia's top attractions.
*Bicycle rickshaws around Jogja. Its like being wisked around in an armchair. The view is fantastic.
*A bathroom with no walls that looked out into my own private garden and had a view out to a soaring volcano at an environmental center we stayed at.
*Drinking a variety of herbal concoctions that are supposed to heal all things.
*Having pools right outside most of my hotel rooms for multiple dips each day. Its very hot and humid here so this is for fun and for survival.

Christmas Revelry

*Christmas day where we didn't do much for the day and didn't see any decorations or acknowledgement it was the holiday till we reached our hotel at 7pm which was lit up with lights and had not one but two huge balsam trees decorated in style. It meant even my room smelled like Christmas. One of the people on my trip brought a bunch of Christmas treats, like cookies and chocolates, so we feasted and gave our secret santa gifts and then I brought along the Sulawesi tradition of lighting fireworks so we all lit up lots of sparkley things as a small band showed up and led us in a few carols. Of course they only knew Jingle Bells and Silent Night so we all switched to a variety of tunes and played instruments and sang along. It was a great Christmas treat! (I hope your holidays we filled with surprises too.)

Our next stop is Bali where we have time to relax by the pool, walk on the beach, and get massages. Yes, this is the life!

2011-12-17T01:09:00.000-05:00

Buffaloes are revered in Tana Toraja. This boy was proud of his who was waiting to be given as a gift at a funeral.

Exploring the Culture of Tana Toraja

2011-12-16T07:19:00.000-05:00

A typical Torajan compound

At the suggestion of my wise travel friend Grace, I spent a week in Sulawesi exploring the culture of the Torajan people, a culture that believes strongly in the passing of ones spirit from death to their next life.

The great thing for a low budget traveler like me is that in Tana Toraja I could afford hire a guide, jump on the back of his motorbike and go off and learn about the culture. I heard so much over my 5 days there that I am a bit afraid to even attempt to repeat it for fear of inaccuracies but here goes.

Torajans are renowned for their elaborate funeral rites, burial sites carved into rocky cliffs, massive peaked-roof traditional houses and colorful woodcarvings. Toraja funeral rites are important social events, usually attended by hundreds of people and lasting for several days.

The funeral procession

The Funeral Ceremonies

I was able to attend two funerals and see different rituals. Day one is for receiving guests and gifts. This meant an elaborate ceremony where all the guests are honored and led in a procession around the courtyard by the family of the deceased. Although on a daily basis the extent of traditional dress in Tana Toraja is more like jeans and a t-shirt on the first day of the funeral everyone is decked out in their finest Torajan clothes. Each guest or family has brought a gift which often is a live pig or water buffalo. These gifts are displayed in the courtyard and recorded and announced in a ceremony to the crowd.

A display of buffalo horns from funerals

Day two is when water buffaloes are sacrificed to create a vessel for the dead person's soul to find their way to their next life. Buffaloes are deeply revered in this area and very very valuable and the more prominent the person the higher the number of buffaloes that are sacrificed. They display the horns on their houses going forward to show their status. For many visitors this can be hard to watch and guides warn you before you even decide to attend, but for a heartless carnivore like me, I snapped photos and enjoyed the spectacle along with the rest of the excited crowd. I watched 12 buffaloes fall from a quick stroke to their throats followed by lurching bloody drops to their death. I even got spattered with a little bit of blood! (I took many great gory action photos which I wish I could share, but I know many of you are squeamish so I'll just show one to give you the idea.)

The sacrifice!!!

The story of these funerals is even grander than this. Since these funerals are BIG occasions they take a long time to save money and prepare for. Viewing stands and temporary housing for out of town guests have to be built. Also its really important for all family members to attend so it takes time to get all the out of towners back for the celebration. All of this means a funeral may not happen until a year or more after the person dies. So what happens is right after a person dies, there is a small funeral service, then the body is somehow embalmed, wrapped, put in a casket and kept in their house until preparations can be made for the full funeral. (Yes, I know, how can the body not smell? I'm not sure buy somehow they don't.)

Throughout these two days I kept having to pinch myself to prove I was really there. The enormity of the celebration and the total "Wow, I'm having a National Geographic moment" was incredible. Torajans have realized that tourists are interested in their traditions and welcomed us with open arms and bright smiles. On each day there were a small handful us but comparing that to the 1000 local attendees were certainly did not affect the spirit of the celebration.

Lemo cliff graves

The Graves

On the last day of the funeral the casket is placed in the family tomb. Over hundreds of years, Torajans have been carving graves in stone cliffs, caves and building elaborate mausoleums that look like little individual houses bigger than many New York apartments. The deceased is buried with some valuable possessions and ancestors continue to leave offerings at the side of the these tombs. Family members are often entombed together over the years. The idea is that the spirit will live on. Some tombs also have tau tau effigies with them that represent the people who were placed there.

The Weekly Livestock Market

The buffalo market

Another interesting thing I got to attend when I was in Toraja was the Rantepao Weekly Livestock market which takes place once every six days based on the Torajan calendar. At this market they sell water buffaloes and pigs, the two major gifts for funerals. The hierarchy of these two animals couldn't be more pronounced. Buffaloes are brought to market and washed and cleaned and cared for to improve their value. Owners pet them and feed them handfuls of grasses that are sold in huge sacks. They sell for 1000s of dollars so they are definitely something to be proud of.

Pigs on the other hand aren't treated as nicely. Small ones are kept in grain sacks which are opened for prospective buyers to peer into. Larger pigs are strapped to bamboo sticks so that they lie flat all day on display. Watching the process of tying them down was painful. They squeal and kick. I must say though I like pigs even better after watching them. They are fighters. They kept kicking as if they really believe they could set themselves free and save themselves from their inevitable death. (The buffaloes at the funeral just stood passively at the funeral as others beside them were slaughtered. They stood in pools of blood and had no reaction at all.)

Pigs for sale!

Watching the pigs in the market and at the funerals was one of the rare times I wondered why I eat meat, but then when I was offered pork as part of the funeral I swallowed it up. You know the saying. You just have to get back on the horse! For now I'm meant to be a meat eater.

All in all, visiting Tana Toraja was well worth the two days travel it took from Jakarta to get there. I feel like I learned a lot and met a lot of wonderful people and hope I have been able to give you a small piece of the experience.

Christmas Season in Torajaland

2011-12-15T01:01:00.001-05:00

I didn't think coming to Indonesia, the largest Islamic country in the world would mean learning new Christmas traditions. But arriving in Tana Toraja in Central Sulawesi, I could tell my expectations were wrong. The drive up the main road was lined with Christian churches and I arrived into the main town, Rantepao, in the dark greeted by the colors of blinking Christmas lights everywhere which made it clear that this area celebrated Christmas in a big way.

This meant Christmas Carols playing in every store and restaurant and Christmas trees decorated with big puff of white stuff to simulate snow, something they definitely never get in this part of the world.

It meant the constant crackling of fireworks which apparently are let off every night of December. I decided to partake is this tradition and bought a bunch of different explosives and set them off to the thrill and entertainment of a whole bunch of kids.

It meant attending a singing competition for the area school kids where everyone sang "Oh Holy Night" to a table of judges dressed to the nines in American Idol fashion.

It meant walking into a local restaurant that was packed with people and being handed a plate for the free Christmas buffet. Unfortunately I missed the earlier entertainment but the festive spirit was still in the air.

It meant attending a candlelight service at the church across from my hotel and belting out the holiday favorites including "Silent Night" in Bahasa which I read from the big projections on the wall of the church.

And mostly it meant new interesting experiences and lots of fun!

2011-12-15T00:33:00.000-05:00


In Tana Toraja, Sulawesi, Indonesia, the big tourist activity is attending funerals and visiting many different kinds of graves. This one is in a cave from 100s of years ago. Tau Tau effigies are created for some of the buried. Ancestors continue to maintain the graves and leave offerings like clothes, cigarettes and bottles of things besides the graves.

Rice paddies cover ever inch of available land in Torajaland.

I've seen only seen 28% percent of the world. Better keep traveling.

2011-12-01T19:20:00.000-05:00

Create your own travel map - TravBuddy

Photos from my trip to China

2011-11-21T20:21:00.001-05:00

Click here for a photo slide show from my trip to Shanghai and Beijing

North Korea: First Thoughts

2011-10-15T22:23:00.001-04:00

Arriving in North Korea is like stepping out of a timemachine. Soldiers are walking in the streets in the same uniforms from way backwhen. Citizens are working collectively on community volunteer projects likeplanting flowers for road beautification or repairing sidewalks. Farmers are working in thefields just outside the city perimeter. There is verylittle car traffic. (With the economic embargo,gasoline is hard to get so the issue seems to be framed that not driving is thepatriotic thing to do. Sundays, the daywe arrived was a voluntary no driving day. Though it was also not clear to mehow many people even have cars?) Rusty old buses and street cars are packedwith people and seem to run constantly. Thesidewalks are packed with people walking to get places. Many others ride bicycles.

A view of one of the cool huge monuments in the middle of town.

Simpler images of the 50s come to mind. For me, it brought back strongmemories of visiting the U.S.S.R. in the 80s with giant, uniform, high riseconcrete buildings, small stores selling almost nothing, no advertising, and simplesignage accented with bright obvious propaganda images on billboards allover. And like my trip to the U.S.S.R. my movements were completely controlled and monitored and I was only allowed to see and talk to people they wanted me to.

There are lots of big granite memorials,statues, obelisks celebrating the ideals of the regime. (North Korea is a majorexporter of granite but apparently they keep a little of it to make their ownstatues!)

Women dress much more conservatively than most modernstandards, though many others look a lot like

working women everywhere withtheir hair pulled back into pony tales, button down cotton shirts, pencilskirts and pumps. Men are almost alldressed in drab green or gray short sleeved suits or army uniforms. Many women wore traditional dress for theirwork uniforms which adds a colorful element to the streets and certainly lookslike it’s from another era and seems out of place in the communist washed outhues. (This might be my favoritetraditional dress of anywhere I’ve ever been.) Many children wearuniforms. Boy and girls are seen wearing redneckerchiefs walking in large groups singing together. Nationalist tunes seem to be pumped out intothe air all over the place in a mind numbing way. (My hotel room was on the 39^thfloor on an island but still I could hear the tunes either being sung bymarching groups or out of loud speakers. It definitely was surreal.)

One of the Young Pioneer Corps - The NK Communist Youth

It’s very hard to describe this all and give you the realfeel. In one way it was verysoothing. Things feel orderly and undercontrol in a way that I didn’t question until I thought about how it could be thisway without real enforcement. Apartmentbuildings look alike and are painted in light pastels. Everything flows nicely. Soldiers are EVERYWHERE but they are sloppyand a bit ragtag and don’t feel so oppressive. It’s hard to imagine them being the fighting force that our governmentis so afraid of. Their vehicles arestill from the time of the Korean War and I kept hoping Hawkeye Pierce would drive byon one of the old green jeeps. (Gottastart watching MASH again.)

Dancing on Youth Day in Pyongyang

2011-10-15T21:50:00.000-04:00

We were able to join these beautiful girls on Youth Day and learn traditional dances.

If you want to see the 1000s of people dancing like this

click here for a little video of what it looked like.

North Korea: Totally Cut Off From the Outside World

2011-10-15T21:48:00.002-04:00

This woman is reading the paper in the subway

The most amazing thing about North Korea to me is that in atime where information is flattening the world North Korean’s live totally cutoff from information. Everything feels stopped in time. Even when I travelvery off the beaten path in Africa there are people with email addresses,access to the internet and cell phones that keep them connected outside theirsmaller circles.

Reading the paper on a street corner

In North Korea, theregime has managed to keep the internet and international cell phones out (thoughit appears that Chinese networks are becoming available to people who live nearthe border and they allow contact with people outside of North Korea.) Mostly people learn about the world through what seemed like onenewspaper that was posted in frames on subway platforms and a few public placeswhere people stood to read it together. There are also a few TV channels but if my watching was any indicationof their programming it’s more just a replaying of the propaganda message ofthe Supreme Leader Kim Il Sung and the Dear Leader Kim Jung il and theiractivities.

2011-10-15T21:22:00.000-04:00

Images of the Great Leader, Kim Il Sung are everywhere. Statues, photos in every room, paintings, billboards.

The Arirang Mass Games - North Korea

2011-10-14T19:31:00.000-04:00

Do any of you remember the Beijing Olympics Opening Ceremony where 1000s of people danced and did acrobatics? Do you remember how beautiful and exact it all was? Well in North Korea, somewhere between 70,000 and 100,000 people dance every night for 90 days each year. The dances tell the stories of the founding of the nation and are the most incredible show I have ever seen and that is an understatement. The video clips combined with the still shots give you a pretty good idea of what it looked like.

The little children who flip cards in unison to create the background to the performance.

Photos of the Arirang Games (Click this link)

This was so incredible that looking at it again makes me want to go all the way back to North Korea next year to see it again!

Raising the Future Communist Elite - North Korea

2011-10-13T20:09:00.000-04:00

My Global Exchange "Reality Tour" of North Korea didn't really expose us to that much of the DPRK reality since the government keeps very close tabs on all tourists and only lets us see what they want to see, which means we mostly visited the standard tourist sights, but we were able to have one amazing visit that gave us insight into the culture. We visited a gigantic kindergarten in Pyongyang where kids are brought in on Monday morning and not picked up till Saturday. The place was kind of unreal. 5-6 year olds gave us amazing performances and behaved impeccably and all I could think was these kids are going to be the elite ruling class in the years to come. Either that or they are going to be dancers in the Arirang Mass Games.

In any case, this was one of the places that made me really question life in North Korea. I was not under an illusion that everything was perfect, but some of the aspects of a society like this were appealing, but the lack of free thought and movement, something I treasure so much, is so apparent and really makes me want to scratch even deeper under the surface to understand what it is like to grow up in North Korea when you don't know there is another world out there.

A YouTube link to see Future Arirang dancers

A YouTube link to see precise little singers

Global Exchange Reality Tours

2011-09-24T21:00:00.000-04:00

Some of you have asked what tour company I went to North Korea (and Iran, Afghanistan, Palestine...) with. The company name is Global Exchange and they run a series of Reality Tours that take people all over the world.

"The idea that travel can be educational and positively influence international affairs motivated the first Reality Tour in 1988. Global Exchange's Reality Tours are not designed to provide immediate solutions or remedies to the world’s most intractable problems, nor are they simply a kind of voyeurism. Rather, Reality Tours are meant to educate people about how we, individually and collectively, contribute to global problems, and, then, to suggest ways in which we can contribute to positive change locally and internationally.

Reality Tours offer participants an opportunity to journey to other countries to examine a situation first-hand, to see beyond what is communicated by the mass media. By joining us on one of these delegations, participants have the chance to learn about unfamiliar cultures, meet with people from all walks of life, and establish meaningful relationships with people from other countries."

Check out there website and find a tour for your next trip!

Photos from North Korea

2011-09-24T09:27:00.000-04:00

Propaganda is the backdrop throughout North Korea

Taking a ride in the subway

Slideshow of North Korea Photos (Click this link)

Meeting the President of Guinea during UN General Assembly Week in NY

2011-09-24T09:01:00.000-04:00

Suzanne and I get to meet Alpha Conde, the President of Guinea

Lots of you know that my favorite NY event of the year is the UN General Assembly. 193 world leaders came to town this year and I did my annual session of stalking. This year I did really well!

Somehow I befriended some Guinean's in the Waldorf lobby and told them I'd love to meet their new President. An hour later I managed to join a crowd of 25 prominent Guinean's from DC, Boston and NY up in the country's suite and was part of a surreal time mixed with referential treatment, lots of Islamic prayers and genuine love of their country all in a language I didn't speak. And mixed in all that was real pleasure that my friend and I cared about their country.

How did it happen, you ask? While sitting in the lobby of the Waldorf suddenly I was surrounded with the most beautifully dressed West Africans. I just had to ask where they were from. They said Guinea, a country I had just learned about from my cab driver over the weekend. My cab driver had told me the story of their new wonderful president, Alpha Conde, that he loved and he wanted me to love too. He has even cried and thanked me for knowing about different countries in Africa, when so few of his riders do so all week I had been thinking about his passion and so it seemed more than a coincidence that this was happening.

At some point Suzanne and I were about to give up because it didn't seem like he was ever going to come to the lobby, so we asked one more time and our new friend asked if we would like to go up to his room to meet him. I said "YES!" and before we knew it we were being whisked into a room with 25 Guinean men for a session with the president. The importance and awe was amazing. The people in the room made sure we got a photo with the president and all seemed very happy that we cared that we were so pleased to be there.

Alpha Condé has been President of Guinea since December 2010. He was elected in the 2010 presidential elections, which was widely considered the first truly credible election in Guinea's history.

I get a kick when I find that people have used my photos on websites!

2011-06-09T20:47:00.003-04:00

My first Dutch website with a picture of Benin.

http://www.naturescanner.nl/afrika/benin

Link to My Kenya Photo Album

2011-05-01T21:17:00.003-04:00

Click here to get to my Kenya photo album

Link to My wildlife photos from Kenya

2011-05-01T21:14:00.000-04:00

Click here to link to my wildlife photos from Kenya

Link to My Ethiopia Photo Album

2011-05-01T21:12:00.004-04:00

Click this link to see my full Ethiopian photo album

Photos from Lalibela, Ethiopia

2011-03-27T19:13:00.005-04:00

Lalibela, a World Heritage site, undoubtedly ranks among the greatest religious-historical sites in the Christian world.

An ancient world, including 11 magnificent, medieval, rock-hewn churches, dimly lit passageways, hidden crypts and grottoes, was carved into the red volcanic rock underlying this remote Ethiopian town almost a millennia ago by the Zagwe dynasty. Today that world remains, frozen in stone. -Lonely Planet

Is There a Right Way to Spend Money When Traveling?

2011-03-11T13:18:00.002-05:00

This is an interesting article for travelers. Going to Ethiopia really tested a lot of my travel rules of not giving money to people on the street... but I definitely followed a lot of these rules and have a whole second suitcase to prove that I supported local merchants and even wiped my brow today with my new handkerchief that I bought out of the minibus window yesterday. I also tried to buy some really cute socks,but they were for little kids. :(

http://travel.nytimes.com/2011/03/13/travel/13prac.html

Ethiopian Coffee

2011-03-02T02:25:00.007-05:00

Ok, so one of the downsides of Ghana was the complete lack of coffee. For those of you that know me these days, you know my afternoon coffee is like a shot of happy juice in my day. While I tend to run pretty well on adrenaline on these trips I still missed coffee. So arriving in Ethiopia was a wonderful next step. Here everyone drinks these little macchiatos. For those of you that don’t know that is an espresso with milk and lots of foam. Plus here there is an added bonus, the milk is thicker and creamier and just better! They are so good that I have been stopping more than once a day. It’s a fun place to sit in the sidewalk cafes amongst all the men. I think they just look at me like another crazy “ferengi” (foreigner) since there are very few other women around. Also there seems to be a middle class growing "Starbucks" cafe culture. Check out the impostor.

2011-03-02T01:10:00.004-05:00

Writing about the countries I visit in Africa is so much harder than other places I have been. First off, my visits are pretty packed with Princeton in Africa partner site visits, time with current and past Fellows and trying to keep up with emails and Princeton in Africa work from the US versus trips to the various tourist sites. What that tends to mean is that I don’t have a lot of extra time to sit back and think about what I am seeing. Usually when I travel for pleasure, I try to read both fiction and non-fiction books about the country I am traveling in. I try to read the local paper every day and get a sense about the current state of affairs of the country I’m in. Unfortunately on my work trips I don’t always get a chance to do this. Traveling to 3 or 5 countries in 5 weeks each year usually means I hardly know what is really going on and instead just get a chance to dig deep into a particular issue by hearing one of my Fellows daily experiences at work or visiting an organization that Princeton in Africa partners with. I’ve gotten to learn lots about the treatment of HIV, particularly in youth, issues in Africa education in a few countries, issues concerning drought and successful strategies to handle it like building rainwater harvesting systems or developing better local solutions for filtering existing water sources and I’ve certainly gotten to hear a lot about humanitarian aid and food security.

I enjoy learning about these things immensely and it fills my head with endless topics to read more about, but I miss not getting to understand the political realities and histories of each country. In my job, I have Fellows in 18 countries this year. My head is full trying to keep up with the ones who have issues that I have to care about. Will our Fellows have to be evacuated from Uganda (no) or Cote D’Ivoire (yes)? That means I don’t have as much time to learn about the historical effects the Cold War has had on Ethiopia, or all of Africa for that matter. I don’t get to get a full on the ground feeling of what good governance means and why it has been so hard to achieve in Africa. I know it’s really important to think more broadly about history and how Africa got to this point and what things have prevented it from developing and feel ashamed to not be able to soak enough in when I travel to begin to find answers.

In just one issue, slavery, I have been able to experience a lot in my travels. I have been to Benin, Ghana, Senegal and Kenya and seen slave ports and informative museums. It has been eye opening and really sparked more research and thinking on the topic. But what I have seen only shows how little I know and how diverse the issues are. Benin’s slaves went to Cuba, Haiti and Brazil and had a very different experience from Ghana’s that went to the US. I have opened a can of worms that shows me I can’t begin to understand the full story until I understand US slavery vs West Indian slavery. No matter how I try I can’t even begin to fathom what losing 13-25 million men and women in their prime did to Africa’ s development back then. And then when you add in the idea that Africans were selling Africans which meant Africans were increasing the intra-area infighting when other parts of the world were making economic integration between neighboring communities

And then... How come so few people talk about the affects of the Cold War on Africa? The US and USSR were busy propping up bad leaders to suit our development versus Africa's. Those bad leaders still are wreaking havoc.

Once again, experiential learning has opened my eyes and my brain to so much more than my head could ever absorb but left me with more questions than I can possibly have time to answer. Might be time to quit my job and travel at a leisurely educational pace again…. Work really gets in the way… Just kidding.

Photos from Ethiopia

2011-02-26T14:00:00.001-05:00

The Joys of Cross Cultural Communication

2011-02-26T13:17:00.000-05:00

One of the things I really love about traveling is getting to meet people from so many different countries. While I do love meeting locals from the places I am traveling too, I actually am talking about all the other expats and tourists I meet along the way. Traveling for Princeton in Africa opens me up to a whole new set of expats who work in Africa. I love sitting in on a meeting with a group of people from all different places and listening to the accents, watching the different cultural responses and often feeling very comforted by the other American in the room if there is one. It’s another reminder of how diverse the world is and another place where I can find my inner American and feel that deep sense of connection and comfort.

Also, on this trip I have enjoyed discussing the protests in Northern Africa with a variety of people and getting to hear their very different opinions.

The Princeton in Africa Fellow I am visiting told me one of the big surprises of her fellowship so far is the challenges of cross-cultural communication in the workplace. While she expected it with the local Africa staff, she didn’t anticipate getting used to the different styles between her Swiss and British bosses.

I think these cross cultural experiences are addicting. When I get back to New York, I see all the tourists and wish I could find a way to talk to them and hear their thoughts and opinions, but somehow it rarely happens so I will have to keep traveling to get my fix.

PS. While I write this I am evesdropping on a group who are all speaking with the most wonderful mix of English accents. I feel like I am watching an old English movie with a host of royal court characters.

Link to My Ghana Photo Album

2011-02-15T21:05:00.002-05:00

Click here to go to Facebook and see my Ghana photos

Photos from Ghana

2011-02-14T13:19:00.005-05:00

Awaiting an incoming fishing boat at Krokrobite Beach in Ghana

The fisherman's beach in Cape Coast
It was an amazing hive of activity
Faces at Anamabo Beach

2011-02-13T17:28:00.000-05:00

Accra, Ghana
Project Mercy, Yetebon, Ethiopia

My 2010 Holiday Letter

2010-12-28T16:56:00.001-05:00

I definitely like the idea of a holiday letter because it gives me a chance to think about what I’ve been doing all year. Sometimes I get bogged down with the routine of life and think that I need some change, but then I think about all the things I’ve done and seen and realize life is pretty good the way it is.

Quick highlights:

I discovered more of the world with travel to Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Colombia, Senegal, South Africa and domestically in Chicago, Iowa for the great state fair and San Francisco, where as always I got to learn more about the diversity of my own country. I had a solid month of World Cup madness watching Africa shine! I continue to explore New York and my highlight this year was a tour of the East Side Access tunnels that are being dug deep below Grand Central Station. I'm still working hard at Princeton in Africa. This year we sent another 26 Princeton in Africa Fellows to work in 18 countries in Africa and hopefully have changed their lives. And then of course, I've had plenty of time with friends and family and lots of lazy summer days floating in Long Island Sound.

I hope your year was filled with adventure, new knowledge and community.

xoxo
Cordelia

Photos from Colombia

2010-12-04T22:28:00.003-05:00

Photos from my Colombia trip (Click here)

Mural and Graffiti in Colombia

2010-12-02T22:34:00.001-05:00

Click here for my photo album

My Trip to Colombia

2010-11-18T17:05:00.003-05:00

2010-08-22T22:15:00.001-04:00

Iowa - Summer 2010

2010-08-22T21:16:00.008-04:00

After my wonderful experience in Iowa in the winter of 2008 for the Iowa Caucuses I fell in love with the state. Long open spaces, quaint old barns, gigantic grain storage units, nice people, cows… Then the ground was all covered with snow and I had to rush in and out of the car shielding myself from cold winds. The icy white was beautiful, but I knew Iowa was known for another season and another ground covering, so I decided to go back during corn and soybean season to drive through the rolling hills of green and gold and to attend the famous Iowa State Fair this summer.

I’m pleased to say this trip was as good as the first. Coming from New York, at times my eyes crave wide open spaces, full open blue skies, puffy white clouds and the friendlier slower pace of a non-urban place. Iowa has all that in spades along with swaths of wind energy turbines whose slow rotations can calm even the most stressed out soul.

It’s funny to think that miles and miles of corn stalks can be so soothing and endlessly mesmerizing, but at least for me it’s true. I spent days with my forehead right up to the window staring at the deep greens and shimmering gold. Then just when I needed a break an old barn would appear and show the glorious farming history in its weather worn exterior.

I know nothing about farming but am always curious so I look at tractors, grain sheds and gigantic irrigation rigs with immense curiosity. I even made Rick, my host and tour guide, pull off the road so I could check out a hog confinement, where they were fattening up 1000s of pigs. Iowans can’t believe I’d want to stop, but I needed to see what it looked like and say a few hellos to the pigs who seemed very happy to have a visitor.

Photos from the Iowa State Fair

2010-08-22T21:00:00.001-04:00

For more commentary, check out my Facebook photo slide show.

Iowa Slide Show

Iowa State Fair

2010-08-22T20:41:00.002-04:00

So perhaps you are wondering why I chose to spend my summer vacation in Iowa. First and foremost, its Iowa State Fair season. And why did I want to go to the fair, you ask? Well did you know that it’s the only US state fair to make the list “1000 Things to do Before You Die.” It’s so great that Rodgers and Hammerstein's wrote "State Fair", the musical about it. They claim to have 50 foods on sticks and discovering them is the kind of travel challenge I like. Oh and yes, I have two friends there who I wanted to visit and this seemed like the perfect time to come.

Visiting the fair meant plenty of time to see prize livestock. There were enormous bulls (the biggest is the size of a small minivan and 3500 lbs!!!) and hogs (the largest is 1500lbs - lots of bacon there!); Aisles of cows, sheep, goats and horses; Chickens with wild tufts of feathers that made them look more like lions than birds. I particularly decided to focus on pigs since I’ve always been partial to them and wasn’t able to find their barn at the New York State Fair a few years ago and have wanted to see them since. Also Iowa is a proud pork producing state so as the saying goes... when in Rome...

(Did you know that pigs are smart and interactive? Did you know they wag their tails and love to be scratched between their ears and quickly close their eyes in complete happiness when given a little attention?)

It also meant wandering through rows of huge farm equipment and being able to get the feel of sitting behind the wheel on big tractors. It meant rows of 4-H winners in sewing, baking, science and design. It meant learning about breeding in the baby animal building where chicks are hatched and baby pigs, sheep, goats and cows all cozily sat with their moms. It meant taking big rides and eating fried food on sticks. My favorites were pork chop on a stick, salad on a stick and deep fried Twinkie on a stick. My goal was to eat as many things as possible and I made it through 16 items. Unfortunately I missed deep friend cheesecake and chocolate covered cheesecake, fried bologna, pickles on a stick and many more. I guess it means I have to back next year! All in all, it was just that fun that it warrants a trip back some time!

Thanks Iowa for the good times.

2010-08-22T20:30:00.000-04:00

2010-08-22T20:06:00.000-04:00

If you are interested in my previous musings about Iowa from my trip in the winter of 2007-08 click below to reach the post.

Cordelia Hits the Heartland

An Article About Princeton in Africa

2010-05-13T12:35:00.006-04:00

Click the link
From New Jersey to Nairobi: Princeton in Africa marks 10 years

In case you were wondering, this is why I get to spend so much time in Africa.

Reflections on my trip

2010-03-05T17:47:00.006-05:00

After 4 weeks in 5 countries visiting various NGOs doing a variety of work related to nutrition, public health and HIV/AIDS, education and sustainable development, I reflect back on many of the same questions that always fill my mind after a trip to Africa. The biggest ongoing one is “does aid work?” Of course, I can’t answer that question here, but I can say I leave Africa less cynical this time than in the past. I visited valuable programs that are making very positive impacts on individual’s lives. I met passionate people running programs that genuinely believe they are doing good work and have bright attitudes about the future.

In fact, that is the funny thing about my job at Princeton in Africa. Each year, through 25 different Fellows experiences, I get to hear many stories that don’t make it into the mainstream press. Although they work face to face with poverty, disease and conflict, they also work face to face with real people and programs that serve them. They tell of little ways life improves or the way local people help themselves through the tough times. What is always clear to me is that Africa is a much more humane place than the news covers. I never see the “dark continent”. Instead I see rich, deep smiles of real people.

I hope this brighter feeling means there is something changing on the continent. After all the Newsweek cover last week called Africa the next Asia and local magazines are feeling bullish on the prospects of many countries.

How Africa is Becoming the New Asia

http://www.newsweek.com/id/233501

Africa: 5 Countries in 4 Weeks

2010-03-05T17:43:00.009-05:00

I know most Americans know nothing about Africa and I never even know where to start when trying to share my experiences, but if you have read this far I hope you will read some more and learn about the tremendous variety between regions, nations and cultures. I went to five countries and each one is different. Here are a few things I will miss about them?

Senegal

The class of the beautiful set of people who have melded the French cultural swish with the great African dignity.

The strong sea breeze.

Mini omelet stands all over and Nescafe carts plying the streets.

Benin

The colorful men in traditional dress keeping culture alive. Women often wear traditional dress but seeing men in bright colored patterns was amazing.

The incredible insights it taught me about the slave trade that have spurred many conversations since. I always appreciate a place that is willing to air its dirty secrets in an honest open manner.

The landscape. Long flat dry surfaces with HUGE boulders climbing out from nowhere.

Voodoo… I don’t understand, but I enjoyed seeing its little remnants in homes and on the streets. It just shows that people find their faith in many divergent things and it makes me reach for the things that give me solace and help me make sense of the world.

Burkina Faso

The friendliness shown in the way that you had to say hello to everyone you passed on the road.

The cool expat scene of Ouagadougou. Sitting at the American Rec Center brought me back to an age where the world was simpler and America was simpler. It seemed like we were spreading our easy going style. While listening to live music at huge outdoor cafes, reminded me of the depth of African culture.

The faces of Gorum Gorum Market in the north where I found my travel groove. I’m not sure what it is about cultures like that, but I love nomadic people. They are solid and their smiles come from deep in their soul. As a people person, I get my energy from new faces and sights and I really enjoyed being the consummate American and walking around saying “Bonjour!” to everyone I passed. I know this is sometimes seen as culturally inappropriate, but the way faces lit up was addictive. West Africa is filled with French people and they are quieter travelers. They observe and don’t engage. We have our ways, but in times like these I’m proud to be an American and clumsily interact with new people.

Botswana

The faces of the HIV+ teens that have been welcomed into the community of the Baylor International Pediatric Aids Initiative. This org has connected them with other kids and shown them that HIV is something they can live with and live well.

The people at the government conference that was happening at my hotel the whole time I was there. They were the faces of a good country that takes care of its people. People who really were working to make things better. Yes, Botswana is a middle income country that has been blessed with diamonds and sound politicians who use the income from diamonds to support its people.

The ironing board in the hall of my hotel. Each morning guests came out to iron their clothes for the day. Love it! That’s how they looked so good every day next to my crumpled self.

Fast food… Yes, as an American fast food is a crucial part of my life. (I have thought a lot this trip about the goods and bads of that reality) In West Africa there are very few fast food options. That means either sitting down for local meals or eating biscuits and bananas from the side of the road. (The fear of fragile stomachs makes sitting down with the locals hard.) But Southern Africa is obsessed with development (that mostly looks like American strip malls) and their streets are filled with fried chicken and burger joints and delicious quick easy meals can be found at Hungry Lion, Chirping Chicken, KFC (they are everywhere!)

The bright satisfied look on our Princeton in Africa’s Fellow’s face when she talked about her experience thus far. I can be sure that I have helped change her life and through her affected countless others on the ground.

South Africa

Steak! I swear they have the best beef in South Africa. I’m not usually a red meat person but heck South Africa could make the strongest vegetarians embrace meat.

The significance of a country that has come so far in 20 years. I visited the Apartheid Museum and it shed more light on the revolting policies that separated people for many years. Now South Africa is a beacon of economic progress and again and place where very diverse cultures live and prosper. I met immigrants from all over Africa and everyone believed the future for South Africa was bright.
A tour of Johannesburg that showed me that it indeed is a big diverse city teeming with life. Often all people talk about is crime and fear of the city, but what I saw was a place coming back to life. I also saw a wonderful variety of architecture and a lot of energy.

The incredible landscapes. Wine country in the Western Cape. Roaring waves on the coast. Bustling, blow you over winds on the top of Table Mountain.

The hip prettiness of Cape Town, which seemed completely removed. When I arrived I missed “Africa” but one just can’t help but be charmed by its energetic, cosmopolitan ways.

Life in the Townships which actually does remind me I’m in “Africa” but lives completely separately from the reality of the people I was visiting there.

Photos from My Trip

2010-03-04T20:20:00.006-05:00

Click here to see

Photos from my trip

Sorry that there are a lot of them. There just was so much to see!

Dakar Senegal - The Second Time Around

2010-02-24T13:34:00.004-05:00

After two weeks in Benin and Burkina Faso, Dakar felt like another planet. Beautiful palm promenades by the sea, fancy hotels, big houses... Dakar is much more developed and much richer. There are plenty of spots of poverty, but what became clear to me was its sense of style and cosmopolitan feel.

One clear fact is that Senegalese people are beautiful, drop dead beautiful. Tall handsome men. Gorgeous women. And Dakar knows how to show them off.

I had two separate daylong visits where Callie, a Princeton in Africa Fellow who is working for the UN World Food Program in their West Africa regional office showed me around. I visited her office, met with her boss, learned more about the work WFP is doing in the region. Afterwards Callie and I spent time walking around downtown and seeing the sites. Dakar is on a peninsula and has beautiful blue water all around it and tropical sea breezes.

Road Trip to Gorum Gorum in Northern Burkina Faso

2010-02-24T13:23:00.004-05:00

While I was visiting, I packed up three Princeton in Africa Fellows, the two who live in Ouaga and the one I had been travelling with from Benin and we journeyed 6 hours up North to the edge of the Sahara desert to Gorum Gorum, where a huge weekly market takes place. It is attended by many of the nomads in the region. Here the faces of Tuaregs and Fulani’s brightened up the view. It was a feast of color and tradition. The livestock market was packed with men pocking and prodding goats and cattle since these nomads are herders. On all my drives in Burkina Faso the roads were lined with beautiful sprawling dry desert lands that were dotted with heads of goats, donkeys and cattle across the red clay soil.

I am a people watcher and experiences like Gorum Gorum are my candy. Seeing such a diverse sets of faces and meeting people from all over is why I travel.

Here are a few photos:

Photos from Northern Burkina Faso

2010-02-23T15:13:00.005-05:00

Ouagadougou, the capitol of Burkina Faso

2010-02-23T13:11:00.001-05:00

My multi-day road trip filled with long bus rides led me to Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, the capitol city. Here two Princeton in Africa Fellows work at 2iE, an engineering graduate school dedicated to sustainable solutions for Africa’s problems. I was able to visit the school and also explore the city.

Ouaga, doesn’t have a lot of big sites to see, but Burkina Faso does have a vibrant culture and is often referred to as the friendliest place in Africa. My free time was spent walking around the markets of downtown people watching as I dodged hundreds of motos and bicycles that ply the streets. I also got a great feeling for Ouaga’s expat seen. The two places that stick out in my mind and offer a major contrast for the expat scene are the French Cultural Center and the American Rec Center. The French have set up Cultural Centers in many countries in Africa and especially in Francophone Africa, where they often are the major place to take int culture. They provide chic classy settings where French movies, music, dance and art are on display and one can get a delicious glass of fresh juice in an artistic classy oasis from the hectic streets around it. In contrast the American Rec Center, which lies across from the old American Embassy, and looks just like an old Florida pool club that your grandparents may have whiled away their retirement years. There is nothing fancy like the French display, but instead good old, casual, laid back American style, with milk shakes, hamburgers, country music, a 70s basement style bar and a pool. It felt like the America we wish we were and felt comforting to this weary traveler.

There is also a great expat bar scene in Ouaga and all I could think of was how awesome it would be if some of the themed places could be transplanted to the Lower East Side of NY. Kitsch and culture and a diverse group of expats from all over the world made for very satisfying evenings.

Benin, West Africa

2010-02-22T01:28:00.006-05:00

Benin is a little sliver of a country that few people have heard of and few people care much about. It’s certainly not on the tourist track and one can’t get many insights about it on the pages of travel pubs. I went there to visit a Princeton in Africa Fellow at the UN World Food Program.

I have been wanting to go to West Africa for a long time now and Benin was as good a place to start as any. In fact, Benin was filled with rich sites and experiences and had quite a lot to offer. Benin is the place voodoo comes from and was home to one of the larger slave ports. Its Northwestern region has dramatic landscapes and is home to a group of people called the Somba and their homes, Tata Somba houses, have a particularly interesting design that brings traveler to see and study them. It’s also an interesting place to begin to explore French colonial culture and see that they French are keeping a strong grip on the Francophone countries of West Africa.

I can’t shed a lot of light on Benin’s basic stats, but although it is a very poor it remains stable and growing slowly. It has a fledgling democratic government and is slowly try to meet the needs of its people. Little things showed signs of promise likes many water pumps along the side of the road for people to get fresh water and more signs of improving housing and some rural electrification. Benin has few valuable natural resources and has few exports beyond agriculture, but it does have a big deep water port and makes money that way.

What I particularly loved about Benin’s people in comparison to Burkina Faso where I also visited were the men who wore traditional African fabrics. All the color was amazing. The unfortunate reality of most places in Africa is that they have been drowned in our used clothing that we all have donated to Goodwill. That clothing is sent in bulk to Africa where it is sold cheaply in the markets and that has pretty much destroyed the demand for local tailors and stamped out men’s traditional dress, but in Benin African fabrics are still widely visible.

All in all my quick trip, felt like a great way to start to get to know West Africa.

Ouidah, Benin – the birth place of Voodoo

2010-02-20T15:08:00.005-05:00

Ouidah, Benin on the Western Coast of the country is the birthplace to voodoo and much of the country believes in various forms of animist religions. Small fetishes (voodoo offerings to the gods) can be seen above and beside doorways and larger fetish temples exist throughout the country. The most obvious fetishes are the remnants of blood and chicken feather that can be seen in many places.

Although I can’t begin to understand the religion and its practices, I did come upon one annual ceremony and able to view the activities and dances that followed. I also stopped by the more touristy Temple de Pythons, where, for a few cfas, they will drape you with live pythons and take your photo. Pythons are a big thing in Benin and when I was up north, far from the Python Temple, a kid I befriended saw the picture of me with them he was so shocked that he made everyone on the street come look at the photo and all their eyes opened wide.

In the North in the Tata Somba country, I found my favorite fetishes. Outside the local houses there are many different sized mounds. Each mound represents a member of the family. Prayers and sacrifices are made on these mounds to protect the people. The part I found most touching was that they said that even if a family member moved far away to Europe and such, the family could continue to pray for and protect them at home.

Benin and Its Slave Trading Past

2010-02-20T09:25:00.002-05:00

Gate of No Return - A memorial to the slave port that was on the shores of Benin

Benin also was the home of a major slave trading kingdom in Africa, the Dahomey Kingdom. Their rule spread over areas we now call Togo, Benin, Nigeria and Burkina Faso. Selling slaves to Europeans in exchange for weapons helped them build their strength. The weapons fueled their ways and the slaves they sold were often their prisoners of war. The memorials to the slave trade in Ouidah are vivid. First one starts at an old Portuguese fort where slaves were exchanged. Now there are photos and art work that remind you of the terrible injustices done there and speak to the strength of the Dahomey Kingdom and African’s direct involvement and profit in the slave trade. Along the 3km route to the water where slaves were marched, there are statues and memorials. There is a tree, the Tree of Forgetting, where slaves walked around 9 times in order to purge their memories of Africa before they got on the boats and then there was another tree, the Tree of Return, marking the point of last goodbyes. By turning three times around the tree, slaves could ensure that their spirits would return to their homeland after death. Along the route one is reminded of the incredible brutality and all the efforts made to break everyone’s spirits and also all the people who died before even setting off on the journey.

Another thing I found interesting was the deep connections they referred to with culture in Brazil, Haiti and Cuba and the parallels that exist today with religion, music, traditional dress… For instance, Benin has many salsa musicians and the dance lives strongly today. I believe that in the US we are taught that slaves lost all connections to the home countries and maybe in direct ways they did, but in larger ways the cultures have found ways to stay in touch. Former slaves came back to live back on the shores of Africa and countries keeping connected culturally.

I have always been interested in the history of slavery and visiting Ouidah was a very interesting way to experience the history more deeply and avoid the throngs of tourists that mob the other African slave ports. In fact, I also got a chance to visit Goree Island off the coast of Dakar, but Benin’s display was more powerful.

If you are interested in learning more I just found this NPR link to a story about Benin and the history of slavery there.

http://www.npr.org/programs/re/archivesdate/2004/apr/slavery/

Photos of Benin

2010-02-17T06:57:00.004-05:00

Children waiting for lunch at a school feeding program sponsored by the UN World Food Program

Quick stop Dakar, Senegal

2010-02-10T10:34:00.005-05:00

Three days of snow delays cut my weekend visit to Dakar to an 7 hour jaunt. Thanks to a Princeton in Africa Fellow, I jam-packed the day and at least got to see some stuff. We had breakfast at a rooftop restaurant with a wonderful view of the coast line and the cosmopolitan city below. I got to visit World Food Program and meet her boss. Then we spent a few hours walking around downtown and topped it off with lunch at the French Cultural Center an amazing green oasis in the middle of town.

I certainly wasn’t in Dakar long enough to form major impressions, but first I want to say that it is GREAT to be back in Africa. There is just a feeling here that makes me feel at home. Instantly I feel relaxed and welcomed. I just can’t get enough of the big smiles and friendly faces.

This is my first trip to West Africa and I can tell its going to live up to my expectations. The thing that makes this city stand out from other places I have been is the colorful wardrobes the men wear. All over the world women continue to wear traditional dress and in Dakar they do too. The colors and fabrics are awesome. But usually men wear the same clothes no matter where you are, but not in Dakar. Many of the men are colorfully dressed too. Long robes, impressive embroidery and a variety of hats dot the sidewalks. The abundance of color here gives India a run for its money.

Unfortunately I have no photos yet, but hopefully I’ll get time to take some on the other day layover I have there.

Stuck in transit - Columbus, Ohio

2010-02-07T22:33:00.004-05:00

If you are checking in to see my first Africa post, you might be disappointed because although I was supposed to leave three days ago, due to the DC snowstorm, I have only made it to Columbus, Ohio, where I am stuck in transit. (Long story.) Of course I am an equal opportunity people watcher and I've never been to Columbus before so I took the airport guys rec and got a hotel near the Easton Town Center, a huge fancy sprawling mall, and spent the afternoon walking around and observing Americans in their native environment.

To say that this is a contrast to what I thought I would be seeing right about now on the streets of Dakar is a huge understatement.

Ever since I began spending real amounts of time in the developing world, I have had a very hard time with American's conspicuous consumption. Once I met people with only one set of clothes or others who can fit all their valuable possessions in one small locked box and wear the the key proudly around their neck, I really began to question the need for things that Americans feel. We somehow gauge our worth on what we own, versus the more important things in life like our families and our friends and the natural beauty around us and its something that I can't quite wrap my head around.

The contrast of spending these few hours in capitalist, sprawling, shopping heaven felt like an anthropological journey into what it means to be American and will certainly serve as a contrasting reminder during the rest of my trip.

Photo: the view from my hotel window of the Easton Town Center, which really is pretty in its own way.

My next trip to Africa - From Dakar to Cape Town

2010-01-11T21:40:00.004-05:00

View Untitled in a larger map

Cordelia’s Year - the quick summary

2010-01-07T20:39:00.007-05:00

January: Started off the year at Obama's Inauguration with millions of my closest friends.

February: Jetted off to Africa to visit Mozambique, South Africa, Zambia, Swaziland and Kenya to see Princeton in Africa Fellows and scout new partnerships.

March: Arrived back in NY just in time to celebrate the big 4-0 with a big group of my friends who have been with me in the many stages of my life.

May: Flew to San Francisco for work and Oregon for fun. Got to catch up with wonderful old friends.

July: Off again this time to the Montreal Jazz Festival for a 40th birthday celebration with high school friends, Karen, Karen and Catherine.

August: Summer educational journey to Israel and the West Bank to get a deeper story of the situation there.

Israel was the 40th country I've been to and I got there on my 40th year! Not bad!

Fall: Leaf peeping with family in the Berkshires, Thanksgiving in DC...

All year: Being executive director of Princeton in Africa. Helping send 25 recent grads to work with service organizations throughout Africa. Living in NY. Commuting to Princeton.

Happy Holidays!

Seeing Jews in Israel makes Jews in NY More Interesting

2009-09-28T21:42:00.006-04:00

An interesting byproduct of my trip to Israel is the way it connects me to the city I live in. I live on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. This is a historically Jewish neighborhood. Across the street is a huge Jewish community center and many other synagogues exist within blocks of my house. I used to joke that I lived in Israel West, but before going there I just really couldn't imagine how similar it actually feels.

Israel was a fascinating place to go to experience culture. I have lived with all these Jews around me, but never have been as interested in the different aspects of the culture or traditions of the religion as I am now.

In these two weeks of Jewish holidays between Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur I have been keeping a much closer eye on what is happening. I have learned about traditions happening right under my nose. Right down the street at the edge of the Hudson River, hundreds gathered for Tashlikh, a long-standing Jewish practice of casting off the year's sins by throwing bread into the river and preparing for the new year. And then I just read about Orthodox Jews in Queens who participate in Kapparot, a ceremony where they swing live chickens over their heads while reciting a chant about transferring their sins symbolically onto the bird: "This is my exchange, my substitute, my atonement. This rooster shall go to its death, but I shall go to a good, long life, and to peace."

On a more political note, I happened upon thousands of Hasidic Jews gathered last week to protest Netayahu's presence at the UN and the existence of the secular Israel state and its poor treatment of religious Jews.

The beauty of travel is its ability to make other cultures more real and understandable. A photo might be worth a thousand words, but standing right there and looking out at something new must be worth a million. In two weeks in Israel, my brain opened up to Jewish culture: its diversity and its stereotypes. Now that I am home it makes me appreciate the diversity around me even more.

On a side note, I can't help thinking, why don't we just move all the Jews to NY where they seem to live in peace and prosperity? I feel like they would be welcomed (At least in my neighborhood anyway.)

UN General Assembly 2009

2009-09-27T10:08:00.006-04:00

For the third year in a row, I perched myself at 46th and 1st Avenue and watched the procession of world leaders and their delegates going in and out of United Nations General Assembly meeting.

Its hard to describe what a wonderful international experience this is. So many faces from so many nations all there rushing by. So many colors, so many outfits. Its impossible to figure out where everyone is from, but here they are all together talking, sharing, venting (I guess that is what Qadaffi was doing), and trying to find solutions to the world's issues.

My leader highlights were the Latin American trifecta: Evo Morales, President of Bolivia who I have seen for 3 years in a row, Lula de Silva, President of Brazil, and Hugo Chavez, president of Venezuela, and general rabble rouser, who was walking with a gigantic delegation and making a real show. I also saw diplomats including Richard Holbrooke and Nobel Peace Prize winner Wangari Maathai from Kenya TWICE!
Lastly the protests that happen to in Dag Hammarskjold Plaza always make a splash. This year the two highlights were one welcoming Qadaffi with signs saying things like "Long Live the King of Africa" and a HUGE Hasidic Jewish rally protesting the existence of the secular Jewish state of Israel and the poor treatment religious Jews get there. (This was particularly interesting to me after my trip this summer to Israel.)

All and all I am always proud that my city can host an amazing event like this in a peaceful way. What a privilege it is that the world comes to us! People are allowed to express their opinions. Police seem friendly, professional, and easy going in a very NY way. It gives me another reminder of what an incredible place NY is and of the privileges I have as an American.

Israel, First Thoughts

2009-08-21T09:53:00.001-04:00

I just got back from a trip to Israel and the West Bank and I am finding myself afraid to write anything on my blog. When it comes to Israel all rational debate seems to evaporate and emotion takes over. I'm afraid to write about anything, knowing the issues that govern all of society there are based on a complicated history that I only know a little bit about. I am afraid to make sweeping generalizations and be wrong about some aspect of what I say and have someone jump on me for it.

I HATE this feeling. Its why I have avoided this area for so long. I generally try to be a rational observer of places I visit. I go on trips where I meet many different voices and sides of an issue and then I try to share what I hear with all of you. Of course I come at issues from a certain point of view, but I enjoy reasoned debate and frank conversations. I don't like feeling bullied to be quiet. I have observed many people before me make a comment or two and been verbally beaten into submission by voices that don't necessarily make sense but definitely are louder and block others out.

I know many of you enjoy my observations so it would not be fair to not write them down and for those who don't like what I have to say, please go easy on me. Some of my best friends are Jewish (wink wink). Really. Gosh, even my dad and step dad and just about all my neighbors... I don't want to be written off as anti-semetic. Perhaps its because I see the wonderful liberal Jews on the Upper West Side who have spent their lives working for justice and I know Israel could be a different place if those were the ideals that formed the basis of the Israeli government's philosophy.

So now I will speak...

Photos from Israel and the West Bank

2009-08-20T20:32:00.006-04:00

Photos from Israel and the West Bank
Click above link

Photos of Faces from the West Bank

2009-08-20T18:55:00.002-04:00

Photos of Faces of the West Bank
Click above link

Images from the Jerusalem

2009-08-19T08:46:00.001-04:00

The Wailing Wall or Western Wall in Old City Jerusalem. The holiest site for Jews


The Church of the Holy Sepulchre is built around what is believed to be the site of Christ's crucifiction, burial and resurrection

Dome of the Rock, an important Muslim holy site in Old City Jerusalem

Thoughts from the West Bank

2009-08-18T09:39:00.001-04:00

I just got back from a two week study tour of the West Bank. During the trip we spent our days traveling around the West Bank to all the major cities including Bethlehem, Ramallah, Nablus, Hebron, Jenin as well as a few small villages whose livelihood has been affected by the Wall... We met with human rights organizations, advocacy groups, as well as other groups that work to bring Israelis and Palestinians together to find mutual interests and understanding. We visited and even stayed overnight in a refugee camp in Bethlehem, stayed with a Palestinian family and generally immersed ourselves in the deep complicated issues of this conflict.

Prior to this I was someone who sort of ignored this conflict. It was too complicated and emotional and I just didn't dare have much of an opinion. As is my way, if I am going to start exploring an issue I like to do it first hand. I find it amazing how much information my brain is able to absorb when I am on the ground in a country. Trips like this one make a participant face directly the cold hard facts of war and, in this case, ongoing occupation.

No matter how many news stories I have probably seen about war, (and even other conflicts I have seen first hand Nicaragua in the 80s, Afghanistan in 2006, the fading oppression of the Soviet Empire in the 80s...) Nothing hit me like a walk through Hebron in the southern West Bank. Sites like military checkpoints in the middle of the city, military guard posts on the top on buildings, barbed wire blocking corridors in the market area, Jewish settlers walking through with big guns strapped on their backs, graffiti of Jewish stars hostily painted across shuttered Palestinian shops (reminding me of the swastikas that were used against Jews in the past.), spray paint covering Arabic wording on signs in the Arabic part of town
(Perhaps part of a larger effort by Jewish settlers to stop the use of Arabic in all signs in the West Bank), an empty road guarded by Israeli military with yellow lines down the center that guides the Jewish settlers to their settlements so that they don't have to stray into the Palestinian streets. And the worst was that the alleys of the market have to have wire mesh over them so that Palestinian shoppers below don't get hit with the garbage, 2x4s, and anything else the Jewish settlers on the above floors can find to throw. (I honestly can't even begin to express the horror of this sight.)

And then there were the stories we heard first hand of harassment by patrolling Israeli Defense Force soldiers, a random killing of the brother of a Palestinian women we met when he came into the city for milk for his child and was shot right through the door of his car, forced curfews that lasted days without letting Palestinians leave their house. People prevented from attending school, going to work and basically living.

I've been trying to figure out why this felt so much worse than other places. All I can think of is that this is not really a time of war that will come to an end, instead this is the reality of daily life that Palestinians face. Walking in Hebron brought me straight to the images of Jewish ghettos during the holocaust. And although Hebron felt more directly painful, all Palestinians live with varying degrees of these harassments. This daily oppression, humiliation and persecution affects every aspect of their lives. In the first days of my trip I kept thinking that although walls and check points are terrible and that reducing the freedom of movement for a whole sector of society is not right, I believed people would eventually get used to it. After seeing Hebron, I felt the roots of anger. I can definitely see where the defiance comes from. You just can't take people's freedom and dignity away and not expect to feel a lasting terrible price and the insecurity Israeli's feel is that price.

All of this made me really sad. I have spent many days visiting the sights of empty ghettos in Europe and the grounds of Auschwitz and gone to many holocaust museums. I have heard over and over about the wrongs that have been done to Jews. I have seen the damage from antisemitism over and over and I really want to believe Israel is a possible dream. But what I can't wrap my head around is how people who have been so wronged could turn around and do the same thing to the people who lived in Palestine in the early 1900's when the Zionist dream began to become a reality? After being forced to live in ghettos, how could Jews come in and move Palestinians into ghettos and take their property? After being so persecuted for their beliefs how could they then do that to others?

As with all these types of issues, the reasons are deep and hard to understand. The roots can't be pinpointed easily, but the reality of today is NOT right and it is not right to tolerate it. The part that troubles me the most is that the USA is an active participant in this conflict. Our hands are covered with blood from both sides as we play the middleman ineffectively. We have a history of saying one thing and doing another. Last year, Parade Magazine (as neutral a source as I could think of) says we gave Israel $2.4 billion, almost 10% of our entire foreign aid budget. We supply aid for weapons and pay for the some of the ugliest parts of the occupation. Currently we are funding the building of roads all over the West Bank that connect the Jewish settlements to the Green Zone, the Jewish Israeli borders and to Jerusalem. Often they are built under the idea they will also help Jews and Palestinians get around the increasingly overcrowded the West Bank and are paid for under the allocated Palestinian aid and then when they are complete, access is closed to Palestinians by blocking the Palestinian access roads with piles of rocks, gates and even with walls. Systematically Israel has let 305,000 settlers move into the West Bank even though its been deemed illegal under international law and condemned by the UN. The US closes its eyes as every hilltop is developed into settlements, making a two state solution impossible, since all those Jewish settlers won't live under Palestinian rule even though they have decided to move into Palestinian land as defined by international law. The US watched as Israel built the "separation barrier" that directly annexed 28% of the land previously defined as the West Bank. The wall cuts Palestinian farmers off from their lands. It separates families. It cuts off communities. And from my opinion this wall is the thing that will spell Israel's demise. Its one step too unreasonable. No unbiased person can look at it and not see its unjustness.

So in the end, I believe that Israel's security excesses will spell its end. The world will not tolerate these injustices forever and eventually Israel will have to find a better way to deal with the Palestinians. I only wish I could visualize what that end might be.

Taking Portraits of Girls - My New Plan

2009-08-16T22:39:00.001-04:00

As most of my readers know, I love taking portraits when I travel. The desire started after six weeks traveling around Europe. I found that when I looked back at my pictures there were lots of pretty buildings but the thing that differentiated each country were the faces and I had no pictures of them. So now I boldly engage with as many people as I can when I travel so I can bring the richness of those faces back to you.

Unfortunately on my recent trip to Israel I felt like I was not allowed to take any pictures of people. Every ask was denied. Its not that there aren't wonderful faces there. Gosh, I could spend a lifetime looking at the peyos on small Hasidic children and the long beards on some of their men. And as you probably have noticed I have and admiration and fascination with the Islamic veil. In the West Bank, women wear colorful, decorated and gracefully wrapped veils, that were different from the other places I have been.

Usually I can always count on children to let me photograph them. Boys love to ham around and make funny faces, but on the West Bank, even many of those faces evaded me. While some boys allowed it, girls always said no.
Because of this, I tried a new tactic: how about giving girls my camera to take pictures of me with them or for them to take pictures of each other? At first they were reticent and then the magic clicked. Somehow when girls were taking pictures of girls the shyness fell away. And thankfully I have these photos of beautiful Palestinian girls in the Dheisheh refugee camp in Bethlehem and the Jenin refugee camp to share with you.

As always I wish I could bring all these bright girls back home with me and expose them to the opportunities I've had, but in lieu of that at least I hope you can see the sparkle in their eyes and think of them when you hear about Palestinians and the painful world they live in.

The story of photos continues...

2009-08-15T14:05:00.001-04:00

The night we took most of the pictures in my previous post, we stayed in the Dneisha Refugee Camp in Bethlehem. While we were eating dinner suddenly the air filled with wild party music and fireworks started popping into the nearby sky. It seemed clear that something was going on and that clearly meant I should go try to enjoy the action. Sue, my travel roommate, and I promptly set out to find the party. We walked about a block and when we turned the corner to follow the lights and sounds, we found a huge party in the street. As I looked around and sized up the situation I noticed we were the only women among hundreds of dancing men. A quick thought went through my mind about whether it was appropriate for us to be there, but luckily before I had to think much about it I was approached by a kind looking gentleman. He pointed towards a building with a blowing sheet over the entrance and asked if we would like to go in the woman's tent. Before we knew it we were swept into a room with hundreds of Palestinian women dancing, chatting and celebrating a wedding. As you can imagine, our entrance made a splash. At first I fingered the small bag of candies I had been handed right away as a party favor and wondered what I had gotten myself into. Luckily right there in the back of the room was my little budding photographer friend and her family. Within moments they cleared seats for us and invited us into their little circle. Between dances, of which there were many!, we sat with our friends.

As soon as we sat down, our friend asked if she could see my camera and look at the pictures she had taken and show the rest of her family. Quickly the story changed to something much more substantial in the spirit of the occupation. After they looked at the photos they had taken they started flipping through all my shots. In that digital card I had all my photos from the last few days of the my trip (about 300 shots) These included all the shots I had taken on our walking tour of Old City Jerusalem. Under the current occupation travel to Jerusalem is wildly restricted for Palestinians without work permits or residential permits for Jerusalem. Although Bethlehem is only about 15 minutes driving distance from Jerusalem, the Wall, check points and the harassment they bring makes the trip hours long even if you are granted a permit, something you must plan months ahead to try to get. This means that most Palestinians have never been to Jerusalem to see the historical and religious sites there, including the Dome of the Rock, the third most holy place for Muslims. So as they clicked through my pictures they got very excited. I watched the mom point and explain to the kids what things were. Along the way they stopped and asked who people were and what places were.

At that moment, even in a very joyous party that had transported me far from the disturbing issues I had been seeing first hand on this trip, I felt very sad for a group of people who are being forcibly separated from their land, history and culture.

P.S. Unfortunately photo taking was strictly forbidden so I will have to live with the memories of hundreds of women dancing and reveling only being in my head.

Faces from Palestine

2009-08-14T19:01:00.002-04:00

Murals in San Francisco

2009-06-14T11:36:00.005-04:00

Photos of the murals

Look who used one of my photos for a piece about Bolivia

2009-04-05T20:47:00.006-04:00

First I got published in a Japanese magazine and now in this article in "Masa Acher" a leading geographical and cultural magazine, published monthly in Israel.

חמישים גרם אבקת צפרדעים
http://www.ifeel.co.il/page/13500

and also here on this funny site Una calle Salvador Allenda, dedicated to images around the world using Salvador Allende's name who published my photo from Mozambique.
http://www.abacq.org/calle/

Somehow, my pictures look much cooler surrounded by a foreign alphabet.

Traveling to Africa - Winter 2009

2009-04-05T20:01:00.008-04:00

Women at a healthcare rally

I recently got back from 5 weeks in Africa where I was traveling for work. In case you don't remember, I now run Princeton in Africa, a program that annually sends 25 recent college grads on year-long fellowships in service organizations throughout the continent of Africa. The best bonus of the job is an annual extensive trip to Africa to do site visits to potential partner organizations to make sure they would be good places for Princeton in Africa Fellows. My recent trip took me to Mozambique, South Africa, Zambia and Kenya.

In many ways, traveling for work definitely felt very different. I was online and connected all the time, checking my work emails and attending to work responsibilities. This was possible because I had much more WIFI than I ever would have expected in Africa. All of this meant I had a slightly different lens to view things from. On the really good side, it was great to be able to visit an assortment of organizations doing valuable work on the ground. I visited health clinics, schools, agriculture micro-lending sites and more. As always the best part was being connected to hard working passionate people working to improve the world around them. This kind of travel connected me to local people beyond the tourist sector which made the places I visited even more real.

On the bad side, my intense work schedule made it hard to find as much time to write about my trip. You will see a few pieces below, but I spent more of my free time taking photographs. As always you can read the titles to hear a little more about the trip. Since Flickr makes it a little harder to see the titles during the slide show function, please be sure to follow the directions that are posted below the links.

2009-03-31T21:58:00.004-04:00

Images of Obamania in Africa

Press Slide Show in the upper right corner, then press Show Info to see the titles as the slide show plays.

Photo album of Zambia pictures

2009-03-21T20:13:00.010-04:00

Photos from Zambia

Press Slide Show in the upper right corner, then press Show Info to see the titles as the slide show plays.

Photo album of Mozambique pictures

2009-03-20T20:32:00.002-04:00

Photos from Mozambique

Press Slide Show in the upper right corner, then press Show Info to see the titles as the slide show plays.

Photo album of Kenyan pictures

2009-03-01T19:43:00.003-05:00

Photos from Kenya

Press Slide Show in the upper right corner, then press Show Info to see the titles as the slide show plays.

Traveling in Africa

2009-02-23T02:44:00.003-05:00

I know this might sound strange to most of you that are reading, but I keep thinking about the fact that I am in Africa, a place that most people think is a basketcase and traveling here is so much easier than in India. Yes, sometimes the roads are bumpy or dirt, but planes arrive early. Airports are small and easy. Taxis are available. People have all been arriving on time. There is traffic, but it moves and we never get stopped by a cow sitting in the middle of the road (well, almost never.)

And my overnight bus even served snacks through the ride!

Yay Africa!

Travels in Zambia

2009-02-19T14:25:00.006-05:00

Volunteers who go out into the community to teach about HIV

I've see so many new places, new countries and new sites on this trip that I'm just not sure where to start.

So here I am just going to talk about the last 7 days in Zambia and hopefully I will find a way to talk about Mozambique, South Africa and my day trip to Swaziland in future posts.

One week ago I arrived in Zambia. I spent 5 days in Livingstone visiting African Impact, an org that does voluntourism. Through them I was able to visit schools, farm coops and medical clinics. One day I was able to work at the clinic at first taking blood pressure, temps and weight to help the nurses out and then getting to weigh all the babies since Monday was baby weighing day. The walk through the HIV building was sobering. In one way I was proud to be an American and know that PEPFAR now makes it possible to give free ARTs to anyone who needs them in Zambia. (In my mind, this is George Bush's great moment. The irony about how happy Africa is to have Obama as president, when in truth George Bush was the best president so far for Africa and may be for some time.) In another way, I looked at all their faces and saw the front lines of the HIV fight. In fact, another program at this clinic was to send a whole band of HIV positive people who wear t-shirts with HIV education messages out to go door to door in the community.

Livingstone is also the location for Victoria Falls, the largest waterfall in the world. The sheet of water flows down a long long stretch of land and visitors walk on the other side of the crevice getting soaked by the spray.

At Victoria Falls, I decided to finally try bungee jumping. The jump is off a bridge that connects Zambia to Zimbabwe, so not only did I get to jump 110 meters connected via rubber band towards a roaring river, but I got to talk Zimbabwean politics while I was waiting and after I was done.

Bungee jumping over Victoria Falls

I was surprised that the border is very open and Zimbabweans cross all day long to buy goods in Zambia, since these days hyperinflation and other problems make it impossible to purchase anything within their borders. Apparently people get a pass that is good for the day and they just have to cross back over the border by the end of the day. As always, I'm an experiential learner and having direct conversations about bad governance in Zimbabwe with people from there makes the issues so much more alive.

After volunteering and surviving bungee jumping I headed north to Lusaka, Zambia's capitol to visit Kucetekela Foundation. This org pays for private secondary school for vulnerable children. In Zambia, public schools are weak and to achieve real success a child need to attend private schools that cost an enormous amount of money and thus are out of reach to most children. For two days KF has brought me to government and private schools and introduced me to

Dancing after school in Zambia

students, teachers, principals, parents and mentors and let me see the work they do. I finish feeling very inspired that at least 36 kids are being well taken care of and being given unbelievable opportunities for the future. This might be a small organization, but it is changing lives one family at a time.

This morning in addition tour of schools, my KF escort took me out into his mother's village where I was able to wile away the morning playing with kids and exploring a world that is very far from the one I live in.

I promise to write more when I can. The intensity of my work here and the heat of the sun are slowing me down.

Faces in Zambia

2009-02-18T20:09:00.002-05:00

Thoughts on Africa

2009-02-17T08:07:00.004-05:00

Victoria Falls, the biggest waterfall in the world!

I’m sitting at my Zambian backpackers (hostel in southern African terms) and watching the rain pour down and thinking, somehow everything in Africa is more extreme than others places I’ve been. When it rains it really pours. The streets turn to steams. The full big open sky rumbles. Also in my time in South Africa, the bugs I saw were huge. Everything on steroids. Six inch crickets. Two inch beetles. Bigger, brighter colors, more pizzazz. On safari, I got to see the huge animals of the savanna. I got used to Asia elephants over my last few trips and now I was reintroduced to African elephants, who make Asian elephants seem tiny. Then it really is amazing how much lions and leopards look like kitties except they are bigger, faster, stronger and significantly more dangerous. Then there is just the color everywhere. The women are dressed in bright patterns. Its rainy season so the landscape is lush and green. Most of the time the sun is bright and strong.

And lastly there are the big smiles. The friendliness and openness is intoxicating. Little kids waving from the side of the roads. The rawness and realness of this continent is just incredible.

Happy Valentines Day

2009-02-14T10:32:00.004-05:00

I would have thought Africa was a good place to escape all the Hallmark silliness that surrounds Valentines Day, but its turned out to be quite the opposite. I can't get over the big v-day displays everywhere. Every grocery store is selling red hearts, stuffed animals, fake flowers and champagne. Events are being held. Merchants are walking around with single stemmed roses for sale. Here is Livingstone, the movie house in town has a Valentine's Day Special showing "What happened in Vegas" and "Why did I get married" instead of Saturdays normal soccer games. (Something I thought would be really fun to watch on a movie theater size screen in Africa with a bunch of screaming Zambians.)

So it looks like I will quietly sit out Valentine's Day while the Africans revel around me.

Go Obama!

2009-02-02T14:38:00.007-05:00

I brought a role of Obama stickers to spread the O fever

Maputo, Mozambique

2009-02-02T13:54:00.006-05:00

Cordelia's Journeys is back in business. Yup, I'm on the go again and I promise to try to write a bit more about what I'm seeing versus just posting photos.

So I'm here in Maputo, the capitol of Mozambique. For those of you who aren't as up on your African geography, Mozambique is on the east coast of Africa bordering on South Africa. Its a former Portuguese colony that gained independence in 1975. That was followed by a civil war that lasted till 1992, but at this point it is relatively stable, pretty poor but on the slow road to development. NGOs are hard at work helping it grow and Maputo is where most of those aid folks live. Its an beautiful breezy city on with water on either side.

For me that meant a ferry trip out to Catembe yesterday on the other side of the bay for a long walk on the beach and a great view of the city and a TERRIBLE sunburn! (Hey, that's the down side of warm breezes and bright sun. After the last weeks in NY, I was vitamin D deprived but now I'm all set!)

The reason I'm here is because I have a few meetings with potential partners for Princeton in Africa. I started the morning with Save the Children and ended at a beach side bar learning about Opportunity International, a microlending organization.

But one can spend only so long in meetings and then in between I've had time to explore the city. Today I walked around the city for 4 hours. It was GREAT. I love feeling my own way in a city and figuring out its energy. Maputo has great energy. There is a mix of modern and old. The Portuguese have a liberal live life style and they leave that mark on their colonies. I was expecting more conservatively dressed people and instead I see spaghetti straps. Also there is a tradition of music and we spent an evening at the French Cultural Center where they have a big amphitheater. By the time we actually got there most of the music was over, but the reason we went is because we could hear the music echoing in the street and we had to go in after listening from the sidewalk. Lastly a wonderful thing about Maputo is that there are tons of outdoor cafes. It just a lively social scene.

Gotta sign off for now, but there will be more to come with 4 counties in 5 weeks...

Photos of Maputo

2009-02-01T14:51:00.002-05:00

Inaugural Week in Washington

2009-01-24T12:42:00.006-05:00

Photos from the Inauguration

Jane and Cordelia get published in the Greenwich Citizen! Read more!

2008-12-12T22:31:00.008-05:00

Look Back, Move Forward

A Mother and Daughter Travel the Deep South After Obama's Victory
By Jane Milliken

Unfortunately the link has been taken down... Suffice it to say, my mom and I had a very interesting time exploring Alabama and Mississippi and you can read some of my thoughts connected to the photos in the slide show in the next post.

Photos from Alabama and Mississippi

2008-12-01T12:05:00.002-05:00

My photos (Click here)

2008-11-15T22:50:00.002-05:00

Shocking fact:

The top 1000 people in the world have assets greater than the lower 2.5 billion.

Obama wins! Live in Times Square

2008-11-04T22:23:00.002-05:00

Traveling the World in New York City

2008-09-29T21:35:00.006-04:00

Now that I have a job its harder to get away for long trips to exotic locales. Not to worry, I will still be able to travel but just less frequently.

I often feel thankful for living in New York since it gives me a chance to experience the world at my doorstep. This week that was especially true. Each year the United Nations opens it's session with a full meeting of the General Assembly. This means that the leaders of almost all the nations in the world gather here in New York and bring international excitement on a whole different level.

For the last two years I have spent time sitting outside the UN watching delegations go in and out. A small interesting crowd of folks like me usually gather to watch the excitement.

Its amazing site to see some many different faces, colors, languages and forms of traditional dress. Then every so often the excitement rises when one of the leaders comes through with his delegation. I wish I knew all their faces, but I don't But here is a short list of the ones I am sure I saw:

The presidents of Turkey, Georgia, Senegal, and Bolivia (Yes, I saw Evo Morales for the second year in a row!) and the Premier of China. I also think I saw the President of Colombia, but can't be sure it was him.

The highlight of afternoon with A LOT of highlights, was when Georgian President Saakashvili jumped out of his motorcade to address a crowd of pro Georgian protesters who were shouting to get Russia out of their country. When the crowd saw him coming they started singing their national anthem at the top of their lungs. For me it was a moving sight. My knees shook for a few blocks after. The Georgia conflict has been all over the headlines, but this made it real.

Some of you will be mad to hear that I had a pretty strong patriotic reaction to seeing POTUS' motorcade. I know he has been a bad president for our overall position in the world, but watch 20 motorcycle cops stream in before a LONG motorcade and finally seeing the American flag and presidential seal stirred a little American pride in my soul. I might not like him, but he is the President, and like it or not my countrymen picked him. I can't wait till next year when President Obama is inside that limo.

After all that excitement I topped off the week with a trip to Little Senegal on 116th Street for an amazing African feeling. How cool is it that I could see their president one day and then go to a place crowded with his people on another and never be more than an hour from home!

I love that I can see the world in my city. I love New York.

**The photos are of Georgian President Saakashvili arriving at the rally.

The Democratic Convention in Denver

2008-09-28T20:28:00.002-04:00

Photos from the Convention (Click here)

Rocky Mountain High.... Colorado

2008-08-28T19:59:00.001-04:00

Colorado Photos (Click here)

Campaigning in Philadelphia

2008-04-23T09:38:00.004-04:00

Photos from Philadephia (Click here)

Mexico Trip - March 2008

2008-04-03T19:28:00.006-04:00

2008-04-02T19:36:00.001-04:00

If you want to see a full screen version of this slide show

Click here

Birthday in Mexico

2008-03-27T16:33:00.003-04:00

A few years ago I pledged to go somewhere interesting for my birthday every year and this year I chose Mexico. I spent most of my time in Mexico City. Lately, I feel like Mexico City is on the way to being one of the new “it” cities due to its mega city status and being a city girl I wanted to see it again. Way back when, in ninth grade, I took my very first international trip to Mexico with my Spanish class and although I have vague memories I felt it was time to see it again. I wanted to see the city through today’s lens.

So what did I think? It was a real surprise. Although I knew I’d see stuff I loved, I was expecting smog, traffic and crime. Instead I got pretty clear skies with views of the mountains from my hotel room, not much traffic and police EVERYWHERE. Honestly, there were police all over and I felt very safe and apparently they have instituted some controls on who can drive their cars into the city and it appears to be working.

So where did that leave me? It meant I could wander freely, discover old architecture, enjoy the kind of pulse that the second largest city in the world can bring, peruse markets, attend moving church services, listen to mariachi music and practice my Spanish. (I have to say the best part of the trip is that I am beginning to feel more confidence with my Spanish which makes me want to spend more time down south soon. Too bad they don’t speak Spanish in Africa!)

Mexico has such a diverse mix of rich and poor. I went out in neighborhoods in the evenings that rivaled New York, London and Paris. They were lined with bars and restaurants. Prosperity was in the air. The people were glamorous. And yet, the markets felt as foreign as any I’ve been to in the world with peppers and tortillas piled high. There is a real sense of history in the city with ruins found in the subway stations and in the middle of the city and old beautiful churches found on even the smallest streets. And yet, there are big modern glass skyscrapers towering in the sky.

The subway was amazing. Its marble floors and walls gleamed and as soon as one car pulled out of the station, another pulled in, and all that for only 20 cents a ride. Frankly it made me a little embarrassed about New York ’s public transportation.

I visited two other towns for one night each to get a better feeling for small town Mexico and enjoyed climbing up into the mountains and sitting in the town squares. These little towns had a lovely historic feel; Tepoztlan with its bright tropical colors and Taxco with its red tiled roofs and white stucco. I got to interact with indigenous people who still only speak their tribal languages even though they are living in medium sized towns that are very close to Mexico City. I also got to see bands parading through the streets playing fun music. Plus I got to try all different kinds of foods.

All in all, it’s a varied place, pretty close to home with plenty to see and do.

Mexico Photos

2008-03-20T17:01:00.009-04:00