Merry Christmas!

Does anyone else feel like it shouldn't be December yet? Just me?

Here in lovely Illinois, we had our first real snow of the year this past week. Even so, it doesn't feel like December yet; I can't believe Christmas is in less than two weeks. I am currently burning a "Balsam & Cedar" Yankee candle to get myself in the Christmas mood, but even that is not really helping.

This year, I only have to buy two Christmas presents (yay for drawing names!) and I am so thankful for that, because:

a. I don't have the energy to shop
b. shopping in the suburbs is INSANE - last weekend, I went to a strip mall nearby, and after driving up and down the aisles, I had to leave because there were no parking spaces - are we still in a down economy? Not according to the crazies at Old Navy. No sort of economic downturn will stop Americans from buying fleece. In the interest of full disclosure, I am currently lounging on the couch in my new, insanely comfortable fleece sweatpants from... you guessed it - Old Navy. So, you know, whatever. I'm a hypocrite, I guses.

When I started writing this post, I didn't mean to turn it into a pitch... I just felt like complaining about how annoying Christmas shopping is, but then I realized I had a golden opportunity - so here it is:

If you are like me, you probably receive many appeals each Christmas, encouraging you to donate to some organization in someone's name - instead of buying them a physical present. If you do feel so inclined to give to this cause, or if you are like me and simply have no desire to brave the malls but still need to buy something for someone :), please consider giving a donation to Water for Shikokho and Just One Person. If you've been reading this blog, you've read these sentiments a million times, but I can't stress enough how important each cause is. Any money you donate will be used to bring clean, drinkable water to those who do not have it, and to educate and empower young girls in rural Kenya.

If you do choose to take advantage of this, simply let me know for whom you're making the donation, and these organizations will send this person a letter to say that a donation has been made in their name. If you inform me soon enough, I will even send a fun Christmas-y note to this person so they have a token of the donation in time for Christmas!

Again, my email address is laurenehaney@gmail.com, and there is much more information about these causes located at:

www.just1person.org

and

http://www.fsdinternational.org/donate/projects/Pape

Like anyone, I enjoy opening presents (I opened - no joke - about 8 presents at my company's gift exchange yesterday), and yes, I suppose buying gifts at the mall helps support the economy blah blah blah and that's important, but I think we tend to give gifts that:

a. you didn't really want to buy and
b. the recipient probably doesn't need and would've been happy without

(that said, I would be completely lost - literally - without my parents' gift of a GPS last Christmas...)

So, if you have to buy a gift for someone but are, like me, fatigued by the idea of having to brave the mall in search of the "perfect" gift that you'll never find, please consider donating to a cause that is meeting peoples' basic human needs.

If you know of any others who:

a. have a lot of people to buy gifts for
b. hate crowds

(sidenote: I don't know why I'm using this abc list method so much today.)

then please direct them to my blog!

I KNOW that this is the time of year when people are looking to donate money. I know this because I recently started working at a company that does fundraising consulting, and I've learned that people give at Christmastime. Maybe that's intuitive... but now I have numbers and stats to back it up, sooo now it's officially a fact. I know you want to give money. As always, contact me for more info. Thanks a million to those of you who have already donated, and if you haven't, thanks anyway for reading my blog :) and I would be so excited if you'd partner with Water for Shikokho and Just One Person to provide some very important human needs! Thank you!

Memories. From the corners of my mindddddd......

This post has nothing to do with "The Way We Were," but whenever I think about the word "memories," that song pops into my head and will not leave.

In light of the fact that I had nothing interesting to say tonight, I thought I would share something that I wrote when I was in Kenya, two years ago.

http://laurensfallinkenya.blogspot.com/2007/10/new-revelations.html

Sometimes, when I journal/blog, I read my entries weeks/months/years (ok, sometimes mere minutes) later, and I think "Ugh that's annoying. I can't believe I wrote those things." And that is why journaling is so great, because it makes you take a critical look at yourself. I should do it more often. Why don't I? I don't know. I'm lazy.

Anyway, sometimes re-reading journal entries is painful because I'm like, "yes, not only did I write these things, but I may have also said them out loud." When strong opinions go unchecked, and are savagely released into internet-land, bad things happen. Because maybe later you will realize, "hmm... once I actually learned more about (insert subject here), I realized that maybe I was wrong." But it's too late. Because everyone's already read your blog. But I guess, whatever. Life is a growing experience. Could I use any more cliches in this journal entry?

So, sometimes my old writing is annoying and weird but cool because I can see how I've changed or grown. This post I'm sharing comes from a particularly teachable/vulnerable/humble time in my life. So, I like it. I should probably only write when I'm feeling humble and teachable, because then I'll always look back and think "Oh OK. That's good."

If you knew me two years ago, then maybe you already read the post, so you don't have to read it again. But, if you're wondering why I am running a marathon to support causes in Kakamega, I think that particular post shows why my time in Kenya was so incredibly wonderful, challenging, important, and growth-filled.

I will leave you with a completely unrelated thought, and that is, although "almond peanut butter with sea salt" may sound appetizing, it is - in fact - not. I don't know, I just feel like that needed to be said tonight.

Also, I just want to say THANK YOU to those of you who have already donated! If you haven't, and you feel so called (note that I wrote this entry on payday muahahhaha), I would be so extremely appreciative! Again, you may do so by clicking the button on left side of the page, or by sending me a check. If you'd like to do the latter, email me at laurenehaney@gmail.com and I'll send you my address.

Ohhh life. This post might be whiney so feel free to skip over it.

I am currently up at 11:56 p.m. (on a Tuesday!). WHAT is happening to me. This is not normal.

I have been really busy lately, and have not had sufficient introvert-recharge time. I'm fairly sure that's a real thing and I'm not making it up. I've been dealing w/ old job craziness (slash insanity) and new job craziness (aka I have no idea what I'm doing and I'm mentally exhausted) so I'm not really able to focus on anything, such as blogging. However, I should try, b/c blogging is like therapy for me since I'm too poor and lazy to get actual therapy. Must write more to offset emotional spazzing.

Anyway, I threw a "dinner party" for some former co-workers this past weekend. It was so much fun, but I am kind of over this whole trying-to-impress-others-with-food situation. I cooked a chicken pot pie totally from scratch, except for the crust which was pre-made b/c a very good cook (aka my mom) said it's OK to use pre-made crusts :) Also, I bought wine, not anticipating that so many of my guests would also bring wine, and so now I have many bottles of nice wine! Keep in mind that I define "nice" as wine that costs more than $6 per bottle. So, it was tons of fun, but I was in "go" mode all weekend, with minimal time to myself, and for an introvert such as myself, it was challenging. And then I've been at my new job, which is great and I like it, but it's also like ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh what am I doing. I had a moment today at 5 p.m., so my brain was pretty much shut off, and I was trying to address a problem on my own... and two co-workers were like, "Ohh ok, just do A,B,C, and D. Got it? Ok bye!" and I was like, "Oh yes! Got it!" And then two seconds later I realized that they were just saying words and I was just responding positively in an effort to move things along and I had no idea what 90% of it actually meant. And I think I quasi figured it out... but I still needed a lot of Lindt chocolate when I came home, which tells me that my brain needs some sharpening. (And also that I need to eat some turkey and fall asleep on the couch watching Elf)

Also, this man at my new job was asking me how I'm doing, and I hate when my new co-workers ask me that, because I don't want to say "oh I love it!" because then they'll know I'm lying, but I also don't want to be like "umm I feel overwhelmed and I'm possibly going to have an emotional breakdown" because... that's weird and it's too soon to talk about crying in front of new co-workers. Maybe someday. But not now. Anyway, what the heck was I saying... oh, so this guy at work was like "how are you doing?" and I said "I'm doing well! I'm overwhelmed but I'm feeling OK!" (using the "sandwich" technique I learned in middle school to fight off my fellow 6th graders who were trying to peer pressure me - aka "I like you as a friend, but I really don't want to smoke, but I'd still like to go see a movie with you!") That stuff works. Yeah, this guy is older and experienced and good at his job (when will that day come for me...) and he was like "Ohhh OK!" (aka "I'm not buying your BS") and he said "I think you're catching on! But I've seen that fawn-in-the-headlights look on your face a few times!" And I was like "hahahahah I know! My face betrays me." And it does. While some new employees might be able to put up a nice front before they go home and cry themselves to sleep, I cannot do that. If I feel like oh-my-gosh-I-do-not-understand-this-job, my face completely reflects that. It's great. It's great because there's no use in trying to lie because nobody believes you anyway.

And now that it sounds like I'm a literal mental person, let's move on.

Umm wow. Running... I have nothing to report. I ran today on this teeeeeeeeny tiny track at the Y, with about 7 other people. Small track, 2 fast runners, 2 slow runners, 1 walker, 1 small child, 1 guy doing situps in the middle-ish of the track. This, my friends, is a recipe for disaster. I just want to yell "everybody run at the same speed! and get the child off the track!" but, it's the Y, and they are concerned with family values or something like that so they allow children everywhere. At the gym, I'd prefer children to been heard and not seen, because if they're seen, that means they're in the way. Anyway, it is annoying, and I am now searching for a new gym that has a larger track. And less small children.

Goo. So, if you find my writing annoying and self-indulgent, please rest assured that I feel the same way. I just re-read this entry and thought the same thing. However, I promise to write some legit things extremely soon (helllllllloooooooo thanksgiving break, I have never been more excited for you) that are not whine-centric and will hopefully be interesting and enriching. I feel kind of bad because I want my writing to be uplifting and I'm not sure how well I've been doing with that... Anyway, I do appreciate everyone who takes the time to read this, and promise there will be much more interesting stuff about what's going on in Kakamega as soon as I figure out how to prioritize my life better and not just write about nonsense. Stay tuned. It'll get better. I promise.

OK, that's it for now. Going home for Thanksgiving tomorrow! 4-day weekend, good food, family, friends, crappy Lions football... ahhhhhhhhh, it's home.

Virginia (fantastic), New Job (hopeful), Flu (praying to avoid it)

It's been a busy week for me, so I apologize for the lack of posts.

Last weekend I was in Virginia to watch one of my best friends get married (and yes, if you can tell by my recent posts, fall is officially the new summer, in terms of a wedding season). So, congratulations to Kristin, who was stunning, and Garrett, who is a very lucky man :)

I was excited about going to Virginia in November for several reasons (seeing my lovely college friends and celebrating this wedding being the obvious big reasons), but also because I thought it was going to be a nice, warm break from chilly Illinois. Yes, I love fall here, but I also don't see a ton of sunlight here... so, I was looking forward to it. Turns out that it was 75 FREAKING DEGREES in Chicagoland over the weekend, and it was probably 60s-ish in VA. Ahhh such is life. It was a pretty amazing weekend. Despite my girlfriends and I potentially ruining a car (so sorry G family - we are ruffians - please bill us), it was SO GOOD. Beautiful, beautiful wedding & couple :)

I did go for two runs while I was there, although they were the "run slowly and stop often" kinds of runs that you take when you're in a totally new place and could easily get lost. I pictured myself taking long runs on the beach (in my mind, all cities in coastal states are approximately 2 minutes from the beach - this delusion is the result of growing up in the midwest, I think), but I was actually taking short runs through neighborhoods, but it was all good. I did run by a Waffle House, although I didn't actually go there. Apparently, most southerners think they're gross, but I am oddly drawn to them. Don't ask why.

Anyway, I think I may possibly be getting sick, but still went for a run (albeit a short one) this morning, because I thought the cold air would run through my nasal passage and clear my lungs or something? I know I probably should've WebMD-ed it before I went out, but my internal doctor was telling me to go with it. I welcome all comments about whether or not my medical knowledge is sound.

I wish I had more to say, but I'm emotionally/physically tapped out right now on account of my traveling and job switch, so, that's all I've got. Thanks for reading!

A few things:

1. I think someone sabotaged my caffiene-free streak yesterday by giving me caffienated coffee. Except, I didn't buy coffee yesterday - I just drank some at the office - so maybe I did it to myself? Did I accidentallly make regular coffee? I don't know. Anyway, I stayed up until 11 last night and then had to force myself to go to sleep because I wasn't even tired (because I was on a Chase Utley high, maybe? (when did I start watching baseball?)), and then I woke up at 6 this morning, and was so eager to go for a run! FYI - I never run in the mornings because I don't like waking up insanely early. Also, it's cold here in the mornings. But, daylight savings time has messed up my life, because I came home from work last night, changed, and went for a run immediately - and it was already totally dark outside by the time I got back home (before 6). I even did most of my run at the nearby high school track, which was lit, because I thought that it was safer than running the terrifying streets of Glen Ellyn. So, the whole after-work-running thing can't go on much longer, sadly. Anyway, November morning runs are COLD. Note to self: don't wear shorts next time.

2. I just got an email titled "The Health Consequences of Sitting All Day." As I'm about to start my full day of sitting at my desk... darn these health emails I've foolishly signed up for! Anyway, I'm scanning the article, and it says the #1 consequence of sitting at a desk all day is buttock weakness. The best way to counteract that is to do "bridge" exercises. And also to not have a desk job, I guess? But, you need a job to have health insurance so that you can go to the doctor for your buttocks weakness problems. So, I don't know - there are no easy answers, I suppose. Anyway, sitting all day = buttocks weakness = do some bridge exercises at home. That's your fun fact of the day.

3. I will be conducting quasi-interviews via email with Abbey and Hayley in the near future, so if you have any questions for them about their involvment in their initiatives in Kenya (or their personal lives, likes/dislikes, favorite movies), please pass them along! You can also email me at laurenehaney@gmail.com. I am also on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn, FYI.

That is all. Happy Tuesday!

Going a little crazy with this whole "birthday" thing I've got going on

It's my birthday! The great thing about my birthdate (well, I guess it was more exciting as a child, but it's still somewhat exciting) is that it's the day before Halloween. I've never had the day-after-holiday hangover of sadness, because I wake up the next day and VOILA! Bonus holiday!

Anyway, I don't want to be all donate-to-my-cause-y today, because, as a wise man (Dave Barry) once said on a poster hanging in my local Jimmy John's, "There comes a time when you should stop expecting other people to make a big deal about your birthday. That time is age 11." However! If you would like to donate today, I will match your donation up to $23. Because I'm 23. I know, I know - how am I not in marketing, right? (Let's not talk about proud I was of coming up with that idea.) Obviously you can donate more than $23, but that's all I will match (on each donation) because I'm not a billionaire over here.

Alright, that's it! I'm not running today because it's pouring rain, but I will take one last glorious October run tomorrow.

THANKS FOR READING!

It's time to rake leaves and have some birthdays.

Sorry it's been so long since I've written. I normally write at bedtime, but I've been emotional and introspective at that time recently, and have been writing about my feelings lately. I put that on another blog, though, b/c it's rambly and self-indulgent. Which is completely different from this blog...

A couple of times in the past week, I've almost started to write about my feelings about running outside in the cold weather... but then I thought better of it, because I'm not sure who wants to read about that. But guess what? That's probably what I'll end up writing about tonight.

First of all, I want to say thank you to my grandma who sent a check to this effort for my birthday gift. So, thank you, grandma! I know she does not read this blog so that "thank you" is not really for her benefit, but I wanted to express my thanks in a public forum, anyway. You will notice - or have noticed and have been turned off by - my extreme use of ellipses in my blogging. This must be genetic, b/c my emails from my grandma are filled with them, as well.

Oh! Now I know what I will write about tonight. I just thought of it. And, that's a good thing, because I was literally going to start writing a short manifesto about how people (ie me and my roommates) do not rake leaves from their sidewalks and it's SO ANNOYING to run through them so please, Glen Ellyn residents (again, including me) please rake. Anyway!

Ok, so... back to the birthday card. I literally cannot tell you how excited I was to receive this check from my grandma. I am about to enter my late-early 20s (23, to be precise), so I've experienced many a birthday, although I don't remember the first few... It's always nice to receive money and gifts. It feels great to be remembered - more because it's so nice to know that someone took the time and effort, than because of the actual thing they gave me. This is not a hint to anyone who has not bought me a gift. Your friendship is enough! Or, maybe you don't think it's enough, and maybe you're right, and maybe you should send flowers I like sunflowers but I digress. So, yes, I like to receive money, but, at the same time, I don't really need $25 from my grandma. I mean, yes, I will use it to buy exactly two cups of coffee and I will completely enjoy it, but it's not really something I need. But, to see that she cared to send money for these great causes, that really got me, right in my heart! I won't say it made me tear up a little, but it also didn't not make me tear up a little. If you know what I mean. These issues - bringing clean, sustainable water to people who do not have it, and empowering and educating young girls in Kenya in ways that most of us take for granted - are issues that have touched my life profoundly, and to see that someone I love cared enough to stand for these causes is so, so touching. I know I do not do nearly enough to embrace these causes, but I am so humbled by the generosity of others. So, thank you, grandma!!

I have very strong memories of my birthday in Kenya, about 2 years ago. I turned 21, which honestly, was not exciting at all. I feel like 21 is one of the most exciting birthdays for your average, law-abiding American, but for me - in Kenya - it wasn't at all. The drinking age in Kenya was - ahh I'm not even sure what it was. But I certainly wasn't ever carded or refused service while I was still 20. Rest assured, I was not a crazy drinker in Kenya, but drinking Tusker (the local beer and yummm it was good probably because it was the only option) was something of a "pasttime" so, there you go. Besides the other interns, nobody knew my birthday was coming up, so nobody talked about it or really cared. So, it was easy to just kind of not care about it. I lived in a house with a couple of Kenyan women - my host sisters - who were both in their 20s. One of them was exactly my age - she was to turn 21 in October 2007 as well. (sidenote: "she was to turn"? I feel like I'm narrating an episode of "Wishbone" right now) We didn't talk much, because she didn't speak much English, and I didn't speak much Kiswahili, but we tried to communicate. I vividly remember one conversation we had as she was cooking over the stove in the kitchen, and I sat there helping aka staying out of her way. I was trying to get a feel for Kenyan culture - asking her about her birthday, how she celebrated, what the exact day was. And, although there was a language barrier, what she communicated to me was that her birthday was not and had never been a "thing." Like, at all. She didn't know the date of her birthday, and seemed confused as to why I was so fixated on the idea of them. I realized that I wanted to make everything so me-centric. It was MY internship experience and MY host family and MY adventure and MY birthday and I wanted everything to fit neatly into MY worldview, and if it didn't fit, then I would make room for it and it would still be MINE. And I didn't understand why she didn't just answer my dang questions so I could go think about them and journal about them in MY personal journal which I would then re-read and feel satisfied about how much I had learned and how well-rounded and cultured I was becoming. ME ME ME. But that conversation changed me, maybe in a small way, but still a significant way. I realized that things aren't always about me and shouldn't be about me. I felt strange. She and I had come into this same world in the same time in history, yet our lives were so very different. It reminds me of the trailer for that new movie about babies called (wait for it) "Babies" that they showed during previews for "Where the Wild Things Are" - these babies that came into the world at the same time, both starting out with everything and nothing, and yet, in 20 years, what different, different people they will have become. I connected to my host sister on this deep level through that conversation. It was apparent that we'd both been shaped in ways that we could never really understand in one another; and yet, she taught me something that no English-speaking American ever had. And I could never really express that to her, and that's probably OK.

So, I don't really know what I'm trying to say. The problem with me writing this at 11:45 p.m. (almost 2 hours past my normal weekday bedtime - I'm off caffiene so I need approximately 14 hours of sleep per night - do not make fun) is that I write all these things and I get emotional and then I don't really know how to finish my thoughts. I don't want to be like, "the moral of this story is that women need to be empowered so give me money!" because that seems too simplistic. Remember how I said this is the blog where I DON'T ramble and get emotional and inarticulate? Juuuuuust kidding about that. But anyway, these are just my thoughts. I want to draw attention to these issues because they are important. I do not think my host sister is any less happy or fulfilled than I am - she may be more so. But I think that only good can come of us, as co-humans (I think that's a term from a Will Ferrell movie but I hope you get the sentiment behind it), sharing stories and getting to know one another better. And I am an introvert who doesn't really live out this philosophy as I would like to, but I can say that some of my most powerful experiences in Kenya came from getting to know others who are so different from me in so many ways. So, I'm sure that everyone reading this has had similar experiences, getting to know people and places so foreign from who you are; yet you were able to learn something so profound. So, I don't want to pretend that my experience in Kenya more valuable than others' - it's just the way I've learned to see things.

I've decided to officially stop writing titles for each blog post. They will all be untitled but they will all be completely worth your while (yes, definitely).

This week, I've been running about 3-4 miles per day, trying to build up a base to start running longer runs. I'm pretty sure this makes sense, but I could be making stuff up; I basically just like to run for however long I feel like. If this is not the key to sucessful marathoning, I don't know what is. I woke up yesterday and my leg felt weird - it hurt, but I couldn't tell if it was my hip, my knee, or my hamstring. I also considered the possibility that some sort of blood vessel had burst. Yes, I legitimately considered all of these options. You'd think that I'd be able to tell the difference between pain in my hip and knee, but I couldn't. Is there some sort of medical terminology for the complete inability to figure out what part of your own body hurts? Because I have that. I'm no doctor, I'll tell you that. I had to just sit there and put pressure on different spots of my leg to see what actually hurt. I wish I could ask for advice for what to do, but I literally don't even know what the problem was. I only knew that my leg felt funny. So, I took the day off from running and today it feels a little bit better. Am I already at the age where I get weird aches and pains from doing moderately strenuous things? Yikes.

Today I'm going to pass on a link to Annette's blog: http://annetteruss.blogspot.com/. Annette has spent a lot of time in Kenya, and writes about some very interesting and enlightening experiences in her blog. I encourage you to take a look. I'll leave you with one of her comments from a post this past summer:

"Knowledge and encouragement are valuable contributions to the JOP young women and their families. It brings the gift of self esteem and self reliance to people who have, by relying on foreign aid, come to believe they are not able to do for themselves. We hope that as time passes, our JOP girls and their families will start to believe that “yote yawazekana”….everything is possible."

I don't want to sound overly naive or idealistic here, but I do truly believe that it just takes a small effort to give a person the encouragement they need to achieve goals that they may not have thought possible. Our society is far from perfect, of course, but I am amazed when I think of all the people in my life and childhood who encouraged me to grow and learn and try new things - to be involved in clubs and sports and academics. I was encouraged to work hard and I never had to worry about not being able to receive or afford an education. Yes, I've worked hard, but I've also had so many opportunities just laid out for me. I am just now getting to the point in life where I am realizing that certain career dreams might be a little out of reach... And yes, it took almost 23 years. However, many girls don't even have the encouragement or societal support to have these dreams as little kids - much less to hang on to idealism well into their 20s. There are a lot of girls in Kenya who don't have any of these opportunities that I've had, but we have the power to help change that. OK I am just rambling now - I'll get off my soapbox. That's it for today - thank you for reading!

Fall Wedding Season begins!

A very happy wedding wish to my friend Julie, and her (almost) husband, Jordan!

Julie is one of the people who inspired me to run a marathon about four years ago. She had run at least one (or 25? 30?) before, and encouraged me to do it. I will call her my running buddy, although I'm pretty sure we've never actually gone for a run together. We lived in the same house for a year after college, and although we both ran regularly, we never ran together, because we have a mutual dislike of the idea. Also because she's faster than me and she probably would've kicked my butt. However, we did have conversations about how we wished we had a stronger desire to run with others, so, that must count for something. She also gave me advice and recommended a great podiatrist when I had a stress fracture from running earlier this year, so she's also like a doctor, in a way :)

Anyway, today (in just over an hour!) she is getting married!

Congratulations, Julie and Jordan - I'm so happy for you two!

Water for Shikokho; Abbey

The titles get wittier and wittier; the semi-colon is my best friend.

During my time in Kenya, I met many amazing people, and you may think that I'm exaggerating when I talk about how much I love Hayley and Abbey, but I'm not. They are, in fact, really amazing people. Many of my best memories with these girls have been sitting around, drinking tea or Tusker, and playing cards. Memories! Annnnd scene. I hope I didn't lose anybody with my trip down memory lane.

Abbey was a constant encouragement and source of joy to me while I was in Kenya (and she continues to be). She is very dedicated and passionate, and always had a good piece of advice when I needed it. Also, she's going to be a doctor! So, she's great, and if you have any questions for her about her time in Kenya, her experience working in a medical clinic there, etc... I'm sure she would love to email with you.

During the time we spent in Kenya in 2007, Abbey actually lived and worked close to the village of Shikokho. So, she saw first-hand the need for a clean, sustainable water source. Below are some words from her about her experience:

"Through the years I have had many adventures and met amazing people, but none has touched me more than my adventure to Kenya in 2007. The country I saw and the people I met touched me in a profound way and I carry them with me daily. Imagine not having a faucet in your house and having to travel 1/2 mile or more to gather water for your cleaning, cooking, drinking and bathing. The water may or may not be clean and suitable for consumption. Such is the case for rural Kenyan villagers. Peter, a Kenyan native (who was also my program director and now dear friend) has a vision to provide accessible clean water to his village in a sustainable way. This project will ultimately provide improved access to clean water by digging a well and pumping the water. This will reduce travel time to gather water as well as reduce disease by establishing an underground well. The water collected is used for cooking, cleaning, drinking and bathing. Please join me in raising $5,000.00 USD toward this project which carries a total cost of $23,000.00 USD. The village of Shikokho has raised $14,000.00 USD to date. Since starting this campaign, 1/4 of my goal has been met."

Again, I want to state that my goal here is not simply to raise money, but also to raise awareness about this important issue. And to win the marathon, obviously, but you already could've guessed that. However, as I'm sure you can appreciate, funds are needed to make this very basic need a reality for the people of Shikokho, so any amount you can give would be so appreciated.

I will now tell a story that is probably embarassing but I will tell it anyway. I stopped at Starbucks on my way to work (so shameful! just kidding - that's not the embarassing part). Anyway, I was on my way in to purchase my mocha, and I saw a woman standing outside, raising money for an initiative right here in poverty-stricken DuPage County. I kid - I know that there are needs everywhere and her cause was an important one. She asked for donations, and I was thinking to myself "Oh my gosh, I'm broke... I hate when these people corner me" even though I was about to drop close to $5 for a cup of coffee. I told her I didn't have any cash, but I did have a little change. I expected her to be like "oh come on. I'm standing here in the cold, rainy weather and you're about to go pay a king's ransom for a cup of freaking coffee but you don't have anything to give to an actual good cause?" - but she didn't say that out loud, probably because she has more self-restraint than I do. So I gave her like 7 cents (literally all the change I had in my wallet), and instead of her giving me a dirty look like "why do I waste my time on young people?" she was super sweet and thanked me profusely and even held the door open for me. What? Servanthood. Now this is turning into a sermon. Anyway, all that to say - here I am asking you for money for these really important causes, but I gave someone a 7-cent donation this morning. So, I am not asking for much. If you can give thousands of dollars, please do! But if you can only give 7 cents (honestly, I think PayPal still works if you give 7 cents) that would be great, too. And if you don't want to give anything, that's fine, too. I realize that many of you may just be coming here for some of my Pulitzer-winning blogging. But, if you do find a little spare change, please do give. I also realize that I often don't want to give to a cause if I'm not really drawn to it, or if I don't know exactly where my money is going. So, if that's the case, please let me know. I would love to tell you more about these causes, personally - or at least direct you to someone who could.

Again, thanks so much for taking the time to read!

Hayley & JOP 101: What you need to know

Apologies for the cheesey title, but sometimes I sit here for like 10 minutes trying to think of a witty title, and I rarely can. So, there you have it.

I was getting pretty sick of my regular workout tunes, so I downloaded a few new songs before my run today. One of them - I'm saddened to say - is Party in the USA by Miley Cyrus. I realize that is one of the most embarassing combinations of words that I could possibly type here, but there it is. If you've never heard this song, I cannot stress enough how important it is to try your hardest to not ever hear it. Because you may run the risk of liking it, and then all your dignity will be gone. It is lyrically probably the worst song ever written, but it's a great workout song and, for my purposes, that trumps personal shame. Some other great new running songs: any of the Glee cast recordings (specifically Bust the Windows) and a Jay-Z remix of the 80s song Forever Young (the song from Napoleon Dynamite). So, all of this to say - I have weird taste in music and I really enjoyed my run today. If anyone has any good workout song suggestions, I'd love to hear them! As you can probably tell, I enjoy mainstream teeny-bopper pop and dance remixes, so keep that in mind.

Anyway, on to much more important things! I should probably not even write about my running because listening to people talk about their workouts is right up there with listening to people talk about their dreams. So, sorry! I'm trying to win readers, not lose them. Focus!

Feel free to skim past those recaps from now on...

Today's post is dedicated to a great organization I was introduced to by my friend Hayley called Just One Person. It's a much-needed organization, so if you're interested in learning more, you can either go to the website (http://www.just1person.org/), or let me know if you'd like to communicate via email with Hayley. She would be happy to share information or answer questions. Hayley is extremely passionate and smart, and I was blessed to get to know her as we navigated our lives/internships in Kenya. During our time in Kenya, we would have really serious discussions about politics or economics one minute, and the next be laughing about something ridiculous. The sense of humor was necessary when we were traveling around and staying in a hotel room with a red lightbulb. In all seriousness (the red light thing is serious, too), she is very passionate about reaching out to girls who don't receive the education or opportunities that they deserve, and JOP is a cause that really seeks to fix that. She is a fantastic person and friend and I am inspired by her passion. Here she is, in her own words, to describe her experience with JOP:

"I became involved with Just One Person (JOP) rather serendipitously. It happened in the winter of 2008 while assisting in the facilitation of a focus group and a participating community member made a brief plug at the end of the session for an organization based in San Francisco that does sustainable development work internationally. As it turned out, this woman and I both completed an internship through this organization in the same location in Kenya approximately one year apart. She (Annette Russ) and I stayed in touch and she later asked me to join the Board of Directors of JOP.

While living in Kenya, Annette and I each witnessed numerous issues impacting the community that stretched beyond the framework of our internship focus, hers being microfinance and mine being environmental. To address this, Annette formed JOP soon after her return from Kenya with the focal point of ensuring young girls graduate from high school and cover topics not included in their regular studies, such as sexual/reproductive health and how to choose the right partner. Studies prove educating women is the first step to taking a family out of poverty. As poverty is the cause of or significant agent in perpetuating the myriad issues facing individuals and communities, Annette knew women and education needed to be the target issues of JOP.

I didn’t want my experience in Kenya to end the moment I left and wished I’d had the chance to work on more than one issue during my internship, so meeting Annette and joining JOP’s board were the perfect anecdotes. I’ve been serving on the board for close to seven months and it’s been an amazing opportunity. The girls in JOP’s program in western Kenya are excited by the opportunities they now have and appreciate having a setting in which to discuss traditionally taboo subjects with their peers. JOP has been wildly successful and each school JOP has partnered with has welcomed the program with open arms. "

Marathoning.

Hello, friends, family, and other web-surfers who have stumbled upon this site on accident (please stay, anyway). As some of you may know, I had the privilege of going to Kakamega, Kenya two years ago to complete an internship. While in Kenya, I was blessed to go through the internship experience with two wonderful people and friends, Abbey and Hayley. They have both stayed involved in initiatives in Kenya since they returned to the US in December 2007. Abbey has been involved with a project called Water for Shikokho, which aims to bring clean, accessible, and sustainable water to this village, where she lived and worked in the fall of 2007. Hayley is on the board of directors for an organization called Just One Person, founded by Annette Lilly Russ, which aims to educate and empower Kenyan girls. Through my time in Kenya, I by no means became an expert of any kind - but I did learn that two of the biggest issues facing Kenya are a need for clean, accessible water, and a need for young girls to be given the opportunity to be educated. Since Hayley and Abbey are both working to raise awareness and support for these issues, I wanted to join in their efforts - although I am doing much less work than they are.

However, I figure the more the word is spread, the better. So, at the risk of becoming a total stereotype (a la Stuff White People: http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.com/2008/01/26/27-marathons/ - I also love sea salt, Mad Men, and promising to learn a new language), I have decided to run a marathon. And I will blog about it! My hope and prayer is that this whole endeavor will bring awareness (and yes, raise money), to these really important issues being addressed by Hayley and Abbey, and not be about me. Running a marathon may sound impressive, but as someone who has run one in the past, I can tell you that anyone could do this. I will not reveal my time in a public forum such as this, but I will say that the guy who won the Chicago Marathon yesterday could probably run the course twice and still beat me. However, it is still quite a useful way to raise awareness and money (I hope), so I'm doing it.

My blog entries will probably be totally haphazard - I will present stories and information from Hayley, Abbey, Annette, and others about their work and their experiences in Kenya. I will also write some running-oriented posts about such fascinating topics as the cushioning of my insoles and my favorite running songs. It's going to be exciting. My goal is to really make this an interesting website, even if I only have a handful of readers. If you have anything specific you'd like to hear about - stories from people living or working in Kenya, questions for Hayley, Abbey, or Annette, etc... - please let me know and I'll try my best to make this an interesting blog to read.

I will try to update almost every day, so feel free to subscribe to me in your Google Reader or just bookmark me! This week, I will dedicate posts to more extensive descriptions of each cause, including thoughts from Hayley and Abbey themselves. I will also talk more about my time in Kenya, as well as my motivations for staying involved in some way. On days when I don't have anything important to say, I will probably just write posts about running as if I know what I'm talking about. Mostly, this will probably just consist of me plagiarzing from Runner's World. Just kidding (maybe).

My goal is to raise money for both of these causes and to spread the word about causes that are deserving of our attention. I do realize that most of you probably receive appeals of this sort regularly, and it's not possible to give your money or your attention to every single one. However, if you do feel the urge to give - even a little bit - it would be very much appreciated. There is a PayPal button located to your left, if you do choose to donate. I will make sure that half of each donation goes to each cause. You will receive a letter directly from each organization to acknowledge your donation. I'm running a legit operation here - I promise! And if by some chance you've stumbled upon this blog by accident, would like to give money, but don't trust me, you can go directly to their websites (http://www.just1person.org and http://www.fsdinternational.org/donate/projects/Pape), although I promise I'm trustworthy. Even if you can't or don't want to give, I do appreciate you taking the time to read this far, and if you enjoy the ramblings of someone who pretends to be both a writer and runner, I invite you to come back for the witty stories about my shin splints. If any of you are marathoners, I welcome any and all advice. Thank you so much for reading!