Though a straight line appears to be the shortest distance between 2 points, life has a way of confounding geography. Often it is the dalliances and the detours that define us. There are no maps to guide our most important searches; we must rely on hope, chance, intuition and a willingness to be surprised.

Monday, December 08, 2008

dollar a week

In Australia, $120 buys you a designer t-shirt. In Laos, it can help you train as a carpenter, allowing you to provide for your family. In Australia, $21 gets you a ticket to the movies and a tub of popcorn. In Sudan, it can put a mosquito net around your bed to protect you from malaria – a disease that is likely to kill you. In Australia, $1 is spare change. But in Uganda, it can change your life.


Just wanted to stick on a link to another great poverty relief website. I think this site does a fantastic job in expressing one of the most stunning facts about poverty - solving poverty isn't about making big sacrifices, if each of us gave just a small amount, we could end poverty, now.

Rebekah Nolan is a colleague of mine at Opportunity International and I’m so impressed with the work she’d done writing this site.

And a site written by young people for young people is a great idea - just a shame it makes me feel like an old-timer. (Thanks Rebekah!)

Click on the link below to find out how a dollar a week can make a difference.


Counting Down

I leave for the UK in just 5 days. This will be the first annual leave I've taken all year. That I've survived this long without a holiday must be a reflection of how much I enjoy the job. However, I'm definitely hitting the wall now.

Like an under-prepared marathon runner hitting the 24 mile mark, I'm now struggling towards the finishing line with wobbly legs and a nodding head.

And in the holiday spirit, I spent all weekend in 'Maximum Socialite' mode on the premise that i am going to miss out on the xmas party calendar in Sydney. Ping-pong at 5am, an ex-girlfriend of (a very young) Russell Crowe, a half-hawaiian Bjork lookalike and a French molecular biologist may all have been part of the weekend. Or perhaps it was all just a weird dream.

In any event, I'm once again packing bags, catching up with washing and dreading the jetlag.

And what's this about 16cms of snow...???