how to save the world

The other day I bought a book that's called "50 ways to save the world". The more I get to know about how unfair the world is, the angrier I get, and the more I wanna do something to change it! When I went to Tanzania and actually got to see the big differences in the world with my own eyes, they got wide open, and have stayed open since. Seeing it does something to you as a person, you change, and you'll never go back to being who you used to be. After having seen people starving because they don't have enough money to get the food they desperately need. Meeting a population where a whole generation is most likely to die of aids in the years to come because an American company has taken a patent on the aids medication, making them so expensive that the countries that need them the most can't afford them. Seeing the slum areas and the big differences in countries where a few people have all the capita in the country. Seeing what the economy led by the WTO, USA and the EU have affected the poorest countries in this world, making the poor even poorer and the rich richer then what is good for them. Seeing how big international companies privatized the most basic needs of people in development countries like schools, hospitals and even clean water!!! Knowing that Norway has earned millions by selling oil to the world and polluting our planet without the smallest attempt to clean up after what it has done. Knowing that it's the world riches countries that sits with the power in this world, the power to do what they want, the power to "abuse" the poorer countries, but also the power to change the situation in the world. It's the last fact that makes me so extremely angry, makes me see red and wants to harm all the people sitting with the power to change the world for the better! Because they don't! They don't do a thing!!!!! I can't understand how anyone can live with themselves knowing that they make money on other peoples misery! It beet's me...

But all of this makes me wanna do something, help changing the world for the better. The only problem is that I have no idea what little me can do to change the world, so I thought that buying this book could help me out. And actually it did=) According to the author, Annicken Vargel (she's Norwegian), the smallest things can change the world if only it's enough people doing it! Annicken have in her book listed 50 things that you can do to "save the world" as she says. She gives good explanation to why you should do each of these things, and what it may change. I thought i should list some of her suggestions, maybe someone else would start doing some of it too, maybe someone else would help me saving the world a bit before it's too late...

• shop less, go to a restaurant instead.
  
• give a part of your self, donate your organs when you die.
• recirculation of glass, plastic and paper
  
• turn of the light as you leave a room
• turn of the water while brushing your teeth
• buy feartrade products
  
• use the car as little as you can
• give away your old clothes instead of throwing them
• take care of one another, be a nice person
• don't carry guns and don't have them in your home
• volunteer
  
• go to www.thehungersite.com and help feed the worlds hungry people
• engage yourself in politics
• don't smoke
• eat less meat
• don't buy products made by mahogany and other wood coming from the rain forest
• plant a tree
• don't talk about dieting
• be a good example for others=)

I sincerely hope that more people will engage in what is going on our world, that more people will stand up and help fight injustice everywhere, that more people will realize that what they do actually makes a different! The society is made by women and men, and women and men can change it. We just have to stand together, stand up for our rights and let the world leader know when we think that something is done the wrong way!

Why I hate the post!

I hate the post! Not the post you get in the mail, but the post office, I absolutely truly HATE the post office! Well, maybe not the actual office, but the people working there...First of all, they work in a place where they have to relate to people, meaning that they should smile, say hello when its your turn, be friendly and helpful. But no, the oh-so-mighty post workers are nothing like that, and I mean, absolutely nothing like it at all!! They are slow, they're so not friendly, actually quite rude if you ask me, they speak so low that you can hardly hear them through the glass window that's in front of them and then they get mad at you and give you even worse service if you say "pardon, but I can't hear what you are saying", they work so slowly that you could fall asleep while you wait in line before it's your turn, and even though there's like 20 people waiting in line, they still take their time. Oh no! For gods sake, don't hurry, because we, people waiting in line that actually have a life and something more useful to do than being in the post office, have all the time in the world!
Can they hurry? Just a little bit? No they can't...And does it bother me? Does it bug the hell out of me and turn me into an annoying, mean and evil person? Yes it does! I try to pull myself together, I try to be nice (even though they're not), I try not to be sarcastic, I try to be cool and calm and I try to keep my self from bursting out with something really mean. But do I manage to be a friendly non sarcastic person?? No I don't...I'm almost as bad as the people working there, but hey, it's not my fault that they get on my nerves, I'm not forcing them to be slow, rude, unfriendly and so annoying! Okey, I'm going to stop talking bad about the post people, I'm sure they are nice, friendly, loving and hard working people, when ever they're NOT at work. So if a post worker happends to read this post, I have one thing to say to her/him: at least try to make it look like you're having a good day, like you're a nice person and that you're actually making an effort to get your job done!!!
Thank you and good night from the girl that hates the post workers=)

pics from my trip to Kenya and Tanzania

green hills

the dessert is spreading

admiring the contrasts, black and white

some maasais at a cattle market...

kids outside the Mosque

Batilda and Rasmus outside the school

kids from a school in the Mathare slum in Nairobi

gathering around our car as we were leaving
two kids we met at a pottery in Usangi, Tanzania
class roomThe street in Usangi

What am I going to do with my life????

Hello again!

From the 1. of May till the 17. of May here in Norway students celebrate that they are done with high school and that they are moving on with their life. And in this period of time the graduating class is called "russ"! (don't know where that name came from, but that's what we're called). During this period we dress up in a red pants (or black or blue, that depends what kind of "russ" you are, me I am a Red "russ", the best one of course=)), a white long jacket that you draw whatever you would like on, and a red (or black or blue) hat with a long thingy hanging down from it. I'll post a picture as soon as I get one so you can see how weird we are!!!! Anyway, during these 17 days in the beginning of May, we party, drink, have fun, don't do anything school work, but we do the craziest things to get funny items in the long thingy that hangs down from our hat! It's almost like a competition to get the most items and knots in it. Having a lot of them kinda gives you a higher status than a person that don't have a lot in her/his thingy hanging down from the hat. (I promise I'll get a pic so you can understand what the hell I'm talking about cus this must sound really weird...) If you have many knots that shows that you have had a lot of fun during your time as "russ" and done a lot of crazy stuff! And the whole point with this period in our life when we're "russ" is to have a lot of fun and do a lot of crazy things to celebrate that we are done with high school! No more, finito, finished, the end, la fin of our obligatory education!

Today I got the clothes that I am going to wear during my time as "russ". That means that I'm soon done with high school!!! What am I going to do with my life afterwards??? I feel so lost!! This entire year I've been looking forward to the day that I'm going to walk out the school door and never have to go back, but now, suddenly, it makes me scared. High school is safe and secure, you have somewhere to go, something to do that is the same for everyone. But what about that day in June 2006 when I no longer have to go there, what will I do then?? ahhhhhhh, I need someone to help me!

Until today, as I've said before, I was looking forward to that day in June, to the day when I am going to be free from all sorts of obligations concerning my education. I am going to uni later, but haven't decided when, where or what to study yet so I need help with that too!!! But after this so called unforgettable time at high school I wanted to something useful and untraditional with my life before going back to the oh-so-boring-school-bench...But what??? And then, if I ever do decide what to do later on, will I get good enough grades to do it? Will I have enough money to go study where ever I want to?? Will I be accepted to the place I've chosen?? And the list of questions go on and on...And even before I get to the point where I can worry about those things, I need to worry about what to do!!!!!! There are waaaaay too many things to choose between, I can't seem to make up my mind about it. I've always said that possibilities and several options to choose between are good, but now, as I'm trying so hard to figure out what to do with my life, I wished that there were less things to choose between...Why does things have to be so difficult?? But again, I know my problem is a luxury problem if you can say it that way. Not everyone has the possibility to worry about these things so I guess I should be happy that I can worry about them.

Well, anyway, my whole point with this post is to tell you that I'm scared what my life is going to be like in the future, that I'm scared that I'll end up somewhere in a tiny apartment, with only a lousy washing job to support my self and without a meaningful life... But hey, time will tell! Isn't that what people say??

Africa, Africa, Africa

So, I'm back from this interesting, colorful, unbelievable, friendly, beautiful, welcoming, gorgeous, perfect country. But also from a poor, sad, sick, dry and lost country...This country is called Tanzania.
The contrasts that we saw there are huge, it's so sad and almost unbelievable. There were big and beautiful houses surrounded by big, solid fences or walls to make sure that no one could enter without the permission of the owner. On the other side of these big fences, there were small sheds made out of whatever the owner could find on the streets; cardboard paper, blankets, plastic and tin plates. It hurts to see that there are people having so extremely little living next to people having so extremely much! I wanna cry when I look around me, because I AM that person that have so extremely much. I know that me sitting here crying wont help anyone, but still, I can't help it...














One of the days we spent in a small village called Usangi, we visited a primary school there. As we got closer to the school we could here singing and people clapping their hands. And suddenly we could see kids standing on each side of the road singing for us "welcome, welcome how do you do? Happy to meet you, happy too great you! Welcome, welcome, how do you do?" The girls on one side of the road and the boys on the other smiling, clapping and singing! Someone came and took our sacks and carried it for us up to the school. As we passed the kids they gathered behind us and continued singing and welcoming us. If that doesn't touch a person, that person must have a heart of stone!!!! All 6 of us walked towards the school not knowing whether to smile or cry. It's a feeling that can't be described with words, I don't even know if it exist a word that could fit to describe it...
We brought one pen for each student on Karambacha primary school, and that made them so happy. The principal couldn't thank us enough. He said that if someone comes with one pen in their pocket, they come with one pen too many...We felt that we had done so little, we wanted to do so much more for these kids cus we know we can! But their gratitude they showed us was owerwhelming...

The thing that surprised me the most and that overwhelmed me the most with the people that we met, was that they were so extremely friendly, welcoming and even if they had nothing, they gave us all they could. Being invited to a family, the least that they would give you is a glass of water even though they don't have enough clean water for themselves...

We did so many things while we were there, I'm not gonna tell about all of it because then I would have to sit here for days writing. We've had good experiences, but also not so good ones. We've seen poverty in the big slum areas in Nairobi, school buildings that were falling apart, small kids begging on the street, dessert spreading in the north of Tanzania, dried out areas cus it hasn't really rained for 3 years, chattels that were so thin that there can't possibly be any food on them, failing crops because of lack of rain, met a population where 57 % has got HIV, seen people living on the streets, kids with nothing to eat...I could continue on and on with the horrible things we have seen, but the things that are going to stick to my memory is the people we've met. Their kindness, goodness and their hospitality! We were given the key to Usangi, we were given a family each there. So now I belong to the Maeda clan in Tanzania!!! In the end it's the good things that stick to your memory and that you will take with you as your life goes on. This trip has been filled with good things and experiences, and I'm going to keep them forever and ever in the part of my heart that I've lost to this great continent called Africa...

You can't tell someone about Africa if they haven't been there because they wouldn't understand. As a friend of mine once said: Africa can't be told about and explained, it has to be experienced!