CBC Champions of Change Award

I am realizing just now that I neglected to mention on my blog about an extraordinary event that happened in my life recently. I was still in South Africa, sitting on my bed when I had an email from a friend of mine back home. He wrote to tell me about the humanitarian award hosted by CBC called Champions of Change. Being so far away from Canada I had not heard about it but was very excited when my friend nominated me. As it turns out a whole lot more of you nominated me also because for most of the competition I had the most nominations of everyone in Canada!! A very nice gesture in a contest which searches for Canada's top volunteers.

http://www.cbc.ca/change/index.html

CBC was very good to me, I had a local television interview with Elizabeth Chiu, a radio interview with CBC Mainstreet and then a big one, a National interview with Mark Kelley who's show Connect With Mark Kelley is broadcast all across Canada. Mark is delightful and if you didn't know that he was an award winning journalist you would just assume that he was one of your fabulous neighbours next door, he is very down to Earth and fits right in here in Halifax.

Here is a link to:

My interview with Mark Kelley  http://www.cbc.ca/video/#/News/Champions%20of%20Change/ID=1585258567

My radio interview on CBC Mainstreet  http://www.cbc.ca/informationmorningns/2010/08/catherine-robar-leading-volunteer.html

The competition was very tight and in the end there were more than 2000 nominations and 1300 people in the running. Of all of those people I was chosen in the top 50. This award is a big deal, the top ten all receive a $10,000 donation to their charities and if you are chosen in the top two positions (by public vote) you receive an additional $15,000 for a grand total of $25,000 for the top two people, one international one domestic. Being that I had the most nominations across Canada, had a tons of media exposure and apparently had someone on the inside rooting for me to win I felt a lot of hope that I would make it at least to the top 10, or maybe to the finish line. Sadly however yesterday I learned that I was not advanced past the top 50.



My room mates have been very supportive, they
have spoiled me with love since they
heard the bad news.



A lot of people have sent me notes to say how sorry they are, some simply tell me that they love me, an incredibly warm and heart felt gesture. Others try to give me the "chin up" talk. I have been nominated for so many awards and in each of them I always seem to do well but just shy of winning an actual cash prize. I have never been interested in the glory of these awards, for me it is all about the donation and the media attention. People tell me that it is an honour just to be nominated but I have to say, in my case it is not enough. Running The Themba Development Project, or any charity, takes 100% commitment, I have given up my life, my time, my blood sweat and tears and part of my future to ensure that the people of South Africa have a better life. Charities need more than passion and dedication however, they need money. I had so much hope that I would at least win $10,000, but now my hope is lost. This award would have been a game changer but now I am left wondering how I will make ends meet. Perhaps all of my supporters will rally together and donate $10 so that together we can raise the $10,000.



For when things are worth celebrating again. Love Jill



And then heaven fell upon me

Every now and then in life you can actually witness yourself enjoying something so much that you end up getting a face cramp from smiling too much, for me this experience took place at a shop in Testaccio called Volpetti. My fabulous American room mate, Jill, and I waltzed into Volpetti one afternoon after shopping for our supper at the Testaccio Market. I should note that Testaccio is known for it's authentic Roman cuisine.

Due to the lack of smell-o-vision technology let me set up this scene for you. We actually noticed the smell before the shop, my nose lifted into the air when I caught my first whiff of fresh cheeses coming from the shop door as another patron exited. I grabbed Jill and dashed inside. As soon as we walked in we were greeted by a man smiling from ear to ear who said something lovely in Italian but I am not entirely sure what it was so I smiled back and said Buon Giorno!



Black Truffles



Inside was paradise!!! Floor to ceiling cheese, sliced fancy meats, sun-dried tomatoes and of course the fabulous truffles that Italy is famous for, only 369 Euro per kilo....Actually, we have a new best friend who works there, he filled us with tasty delectable samples of cheeses etc. He disappeared into the magic land of the "back room" and brought us out a basket of white truffles, only 6200 Euro per kilo, I hope we don't get a bill just for smelling them! 

I left the store with fresh sun-dried tomatoes and a huge smile on my face. Jill took home a fabulous Parmesan cheese made from the milk of red cows, so sweet, so amazing.



One of the many counters filled with goodies



My first experience at FAO: Food and Agriculture Association (United Nations)

Yesterday I was delighted to receive an invitation to attend the Symposium on Biodiversity and Sustainable Diets at FAO headquarters. This is a three day symposium with various guest speakers discussing research on a variety of topics from Conservation of Plant Biodiversity for Sustainable Diets to the Challenges of Overcoming Rural Poverty and Malnutrition in West Africa.

http://www.fao.org/infoods/biodiversity/

As I exited the Metro at Circo Massimo I was immediately greeted with ancient Roman ruins to the left, and the FAO global headquarters to my right. Security was reminiscent of an airport, with full body scans and x-rays of all our handbags. The staff were very friendly and when it was discovered that my badge had mistakenly not been created I was personally escorted to the door of the hall so that I had no problems getting inside. The hall where the symposium took place was exactly what I was expecting, microphones at each seat, delegates from all over the world and at the front a panel of experts and the chairwoman who lead the gathering.

I arrived just in time to hear two very interesting talks, one from a very elegant Ugandan woman who gave a talk entitled "Edible insects in Eastern and Southern Africa: challenges and opportunities". It was a very interesting concept that I had not really put much thought into before, and why? Because the consumption of insects is not part of my culture's diet, but as I watched her presentation I was really quite impressed with the positive health effects that insect consumption has on the body.

One point that was really difficult to ignore is that in many areas of Africa protein consumption is very low and causes negative health consequences. Many insects are very rich in protein and can be used for an alternative source of protein. Of course you must keep in mind that this is idea is used in the contexts of a population which already consumes insects as part of the diet and therefore they see no "ick" factor in the thought of eating insects. So the issue really comes down to storage and distribution so that more families have access to these resources, and of course education in terms of preparation and collection. Either way, it was a very interesting concept.  



Muniirah Mbabazi speaking about the challenges
and opportunities of Edible Insects

The second presentation was entitled "Fruit trees in home gardens of the Nuba mountains, Central Sudan, and their contribution to household nutrition and income" The presentation was by Katja Kehlenbeck of the World Agroforestry Centre in Kenya. I was very interested to hear what she had to say due to my interest in the exact same field and my work to improve food supplies by way of fruit trees. The information that she presented was certainly interesting but yet again I found myself wanting more. My purpose behind attending this conference was to take away practical information that I could use to enhance my already functioning projects. It seems however that the information was not what I was looking for. The entire presentation was simply an observation of what was taking place, such as documenting the amount of fruit trees and varieties for example. There was no mention of any projects that were taking place, what had been done to improve food security or recommendations. It seemed to me based on the information presented in the slides that the researchers simply went to the Nuba Mountains, looked around and wrote down what they were witnessing, there appeared to be no attempt made to improve the situation, just simply to observe it.

As I walked around the multimillion dollar building and glanced at the hundreds of glossy brochures written about food security I wondered how much of the funding is spent on marketing, and how much is actually spent on making an actual difference on the ground? Now I don't want to appear ungrateful, it is important to me to see what actually takes place but as the founding director of a grass roots charity who manages to stretch every penny of a $13,000 annual budget (I would love to increase that!!!) it in a way hurts my feelings to see so much spent on non-project expenses. I was stressing out because I spent $100 on a bicycle in Thembalethu, worried that I had broken my promise of not spending money on administration fees. It seems rather laughable now when I walk the hallways and see all the glitz and glamour of the FAO.

And for the record I donated that bicycle to a family in need when I departed Thembalethu......

A lovely sign outside of the room donated by the Canadian government, I think I was hoping for free samples of Maple Syrup and a few hockey lessons, but the plaque will do.

Now that's devotion.

Ok, this just cracks me up. I mean seriously..



Thanks to this Blogger for the smile http://sixers4guidos.wordpress.com/

Getting right to the point

I rarely see English but when I do they get right to the point.

It's strong, in case you didn't quite come to that conclusion on your own....

More than just a bag full of candies

I suppose when you think of it, I cannot picture my South African
mother in law dressing this way.....



Has anyone ever asked you what the purpose of Halloween is? I have to admit, it is not something I have ever thought about before, well there was the time that I was asked by Fatima and Abdul, my Sudanese friends in Canada. The best answer I could come up with was that Halloween is a day that we dress up in costumes and collect bags full of candies from our neighbours. As the words left my mouth I already knew that the answer would not be well received....

A couple of days ago my new friend from Uganda asked me the same question and once again I was at a loss. As I described to him that adults dress up in silly costumes just for fun I could see his face looking more and more bewildered. Are North Americans really as strange as what his facial expression was suggesting?
I decided it was time to finally look into the true meaning of Halloween and I was surprised with what I found. When in doubt check out Wikipedia:

"Halloween is more typically linked to the Celtic festival of Samhain, whose original spelling was Samuin (pronounced sow-an or sow-in)".^[1] The name is derived from Old Irish and means roughly "summer's end".^[1] A similar festival was held by the ancient Britons and is known as Calan Gaeaf (pronounced Kálan Gái av).

The festival of Samhain celebrates the end of the "lighter half" of the year and beginning of the "darker half", and is sometimes^[2] regarded as the "Celtic New Year".^[3]
The ancient Celts believed that the border between this world and the Otherworld became thin on Samhain, allowing spirits (both harmless and harmful) to pass through. The family's ancestors were honoured and invited home while harmful spirits were warded off. It is believed that the need to ward off harmful spirits led to the wearing of costumes and masks. Their purpose was to disguise oneself as a harmful spirit and thus avoid harm"

Wow, so who knew, and all this time I took for granted that Halloween actually has roots in history and simply thought it was a day to collect garbage bags full of candy from strangers. I must say that Halloween is a non event here in Rome, not a single child was seen running around in costumes, and the only people I saw celebrating were in the tourist areas. I also noticed that within that group people were dressed rather modestly with a simple witches hat on, certainly not going above and beyond like my good friend Crystaleen who every year digs through her Mr. Dress-Up style box of Halloween dress up goodies. Some years I cannot even recognize her! I wish that Crystaleen were here right now to show these Roman's how it's done!

Happy Halloween everyone!

A little music to go with my dinner

I was just in the kitchen making my dinner when the church next door broke into this random song. I have no idea why, apparently they like to play random music, but it is so beautiful. I found myself standing on the terrace listening to the music in the cool night air feeling for the first time something a bit new, happiness.

I have been feeling a lot of guilt for being in Rome while people around the world are suffering. But I keep reminding myself that I am here for a purpose, and when I graduate next year I will be better equipped to help chronically hungry people. Until then I will listen to the chimes of music played by the church next door, I will enjoy the taste of fresh pesto and remember to smile when I walk past an ancient monument. How many times does a person have the chance to live in Rome. Enjoy it while it lasts.

The music played for 10 minutes or so before I began recording, it is so beautiful that I lost myself for a few minutes. Then I decided that I should record it so I can share it with you.