Here's a little feature in Shape Magazine. They originally agreed to run an article on this incredibly cool joint project I did with my good friend Allan Schwarz in Mozambique (carbon offsetting + sustainable development) and the Race Against Global Warming (a community-based 5K walk/run). It was a great global-local tie in, but they opted for something more predictable. They also ran the photo from Mozambique and didn't credit the photographer: Esther Havens yo! Regardless, thanks for the coverage, Shape!!!!Labels: Mozambique, Race Against Global Warming, Shape Magazine
We're overlooking the Zambezi - the fourth-largest river in Africaand the largest one emptying into the Indian Ocean(Photo: E. Havens)
"I'm going to Africa."
"I'm going to Africa."
"I'm going to Africa."
How many times do I really have to say it to believe it. Was it really over a decade ago that I dreamed of dusty roads, sun-baked savannas, and a continent whose culture is as deep as it is diverse? I remember making all those collages at home at night on my cold bedroom floor - pasting together paper ribbon dreams of mosquito-filled deltas and sun-beaten terrain. The collage got so big, I had to tape it together and imagined it wrapping around the walls of my room. At least then I could look up at it from my bed and tell myself stories of how it will be when I get there.
I imagine myself back home on my lopsided bed, staring out my window into the blackness of the night. I open my eyes. It's black out. The only difference is, I'm on a plane.
I imagine myself back home on my lopsided bed, staring out my window into the blackness of the night. I open my eyes. It's black out. The only difference is, I'm on a plane.
"I'm going to Africa."
Labels: Africa, Africa trip, Mozambique, South Africa, Summer Rayne Oakes and Africa
I woke up at 4AM today. My circadian rhythm hasn't seemed to shake Africa time. I didn't even open my shades until I walked out into my kitchen at 6AM, old plank floors creaking beneath my feet like an arthritic knee. Wisps of winter's frosty breath creep through the window cracks. The white light beams through the glassy windows: A slow, methodical falling of white.
There is something about the first snowfall that makes you reflect.
I toasted some rosemary grain bread, brought out the apricot jam, made some herb-laden chai, and shuffled nimbly back to my room, only to pull back the shades. For two hours I was up, answering a barrage of interview questions that piled up while I was away, and had no idea the snow had been falling - minding its own business - outside my window all morning. "Shame," I thought. "First snow of the season is here to greet me and I sit in front of the glowing screen of my computer instead of the glow from the outside."
It's funny how the snow just made me - Stop. Think. Reflect. Got me to pick up my pen. The snow has come late this season. The rains in Mozambique were late too. Luckily the day after our tree planting, a light rain came. I think it continued even after I flew out of Beira to catch my flight from Johannesburg.
It's half past eight now and the snow has stopped. It rests soundly on the rooftops outside, smoke puff-puff-puffing from the chimneys. "What happens when there is no more snow in the mountains?" I think to myself. My friends have postponed their ski trip by a month because their isn't anything to ski on... "That's not why I miss it though," I say looking out my window as my cool thoughts descend peacefully like soft, feathery crystals from the sky.
There is something about the first snowfall that makes you reflect.
I toasted some rosemary grain bread, brought out the apricot jam, made some herb-laden chai, and shuffled nimbly back to my room, only to pull back the shades. For two hours I was up, answering a barrage of interview questions that piled up while I was away, and had no idea the snow had been falling - minding its own business - outside my window all morning. "Shame," I thought. "First snow of the season is here to greet me and I sit in front of the glowing screen of my computer instead of the glow from the outside."
It's funny how the snow just made me - Stop. Think. Reflect. Got me to pick up my pen. The snow has come late this season. The rains in Mozambique were late too. Luckily the day after our tree planting, a light rain came. I think it continued even after I flew out of Beira to catch my flight from Johannesburg.
It's half past eight now and the snow has stopped. It rests soundly on the rooftops outside, smoke puff-puff-puffing from the chimneys. "What happens when there is no more snow in the mountains?" I think to myself. My friends have postponed their ski trip by a month because their isn't anything to ski on... "That's not why I miss it though," I say looking out my window as my cool thoughts descend peacefully like soft, feathery crystals from the sky.
Photo: Andrew Wright, cold-coast.com
Labels: Africa, Beira, first snow, Mozambique, snow
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