Ayako

Mon, 28 Sep 2009 00:11:36 -0700

We would like to introduce Ayako to all of you. As we began to grow as an organization we quickly realized how valuable it would be for us to be able to give college student interns an opportunity to fulfill their graduation requirements with our group. When we got back home from Africa we contacted SDSU's International Security and Conflict Resolution program. Quickly we were able to find three willing and able willing interns. We would like to take a moment and highlight one of them and how valuable she is becoming to SCHAP.
Ayako: Our first impression of Ayako was that she was a timid, intelligent Japanese SDSU student. We were excited to have her join our group but skeptical about how enjoyable experience it would be for her. With english being her second language, her responsibilities including some very mundane tasks, and having quite the commute from here home in La Mesa to our office in Carlsbad.
Ayako wakes up early enough to be able to walk to the trolley station and be there by 7:00 am. She takes the trolley to the coaster, takes the coaster all the way up the coast, exits in Carlsbad and takes a bus to get as close as she can. She then has a fifteen minute walk to get to the Office. Ayako does this every Monday and Wednesday in order to fulfill her commitments to SCHAP.
Ayako is working in this capacity in order to better learn about the world of international development assistance as well as to see and understand all the work that goes on on the home front in order to support international projects.
"Currently I am working toward my BA degree at San Diego State University, and I am THE first intern for SCHAP. Glad that I met such a great organization and great crew...and very proud of being apart of it!" - Ayako
Ayako's assignments basically consist of helping to keep us organized, tidy and sound. She has already gone through our data bases, helped in systems creation and is willing a very able to perform whatever tasks SCHAP needs her to.
It has been such a pleasure to work with her. She always has a very positive attitude and pleasant personality. She is extremely easy to work with and we are starting to get to know her fun personality and whit. We look forward to spending the next several months working with Ayako and we hope that she know how valuable her help is to us now and how her energy will help create a foundation for our organization for years to come.
- Cory Glazier & the SCHAP crew

Punctuation on the Project/Trip

Tue, 18 Aug 2009 23:45:41 -0700

I spent the last 40 hours in Transit, waking up this morning in my friend’s pent house flat over looking down town Manhattan. A little bit of a contrast.

As we reflected as a team we concluded that it seemed as though we had been in Matoso forever, while it also flew by. The goal of the trip was to show how much could be done with so little money and so little time. Mission Accomplished.

Because we were working with and through the community as opposed to alongside the community we were able to magnify our labor base, our support base, our organizational base and our base of implementation.

The last several days were just like the first two weeks... More success. The crowning day of the entire project was Friday. Friday was a relatively well planned out day consisting of two major community events.

The day started out by slaughtering a cow at six in the morning. If you have never been a part of something like this, I recommend it, it help you to appreciate where your beef comes from.

They we began gathering the children. We had plastic bags, gloves and prizes ready for them. We gathered together about 40 kids and explained the rules. Pick up three bags of trash and bring them to the landfill and they would receive a new piece of clothing. (Some of which we brought with us and others that we purchased there.) Off they went. We knew as soon as the other kids saw what was going on they would want their chance to get in on it, so within twenty minutes we had about 120 kids out there picking up unprecedented amounts of trash.

They lined up single file (with some coercion) we recorded their names, we emptied their bags into our newly completed landfill and gave them back their bag and sent them on their way. Bag of trash after bag of trash after bag of trash... about 400 bags of trash later we stopped the event. We gather a crowd of at least 100 adults plus all the kids. There Maurice spoke, his two assistants spoke, I spoke and we had organized the girls to sing for us. We taught the community why and what this waste management system was all about. We told them where the trashcan were placed in their community and how to effectively use them: three physical waste and three for biological waste. There had been a lame girl who had fought hard to gather trash that day, despite her extreme difficulty in walking. I brought her up in front of the community and said that if she could fight to clean up Matoso, then why not everyone. The event was a huge success and in the next couple days to follow we heard people say, and I quote, "Matoso is clean now." They had a vision, a leader (Maurice) and a plan for success. As we walked around the beach area and the center of the community which used to be covered in indistinguishable wrappers that had been baking in the sun for years, disintegrating discarded clothing, abandoned fishing nets and all the biological waste from the last several days, now was clean and pleasant, and we could not walk around without having to stop for a second and just stare... brimming with joy.

We handed out all the promised rewards and headed back to Maurice's compound. Woman had gather to assist in preparing the meet for several hundred people... turns out you can feed about 250 people with one lean cow, as long as each person get three pieces only. We had arranged for a meal for our guests. Around 1:00 people from Matoso as well as leaders from other areas began to gather. We sat in a circle and ate sugar cane and listened to them debate this or that in their native language. By 2:30 a sufficient crowd had gathered and we began serving the food. Once the multitude had eaten we began our program. There in front of our center we had an opening celebration. Maurice spoke, William spoke, and several other community members spoke. We sang songs and watched the teen choirs that we had organized sing and dance for us. We had a couple musical numbers, a little guitar-off between the man who will be teaching at the community center and myself, African music vs. Western. The crowd enjoyed both. I was able to be one of the concluding speakers and as many of you know I feel more alive inn front of an audience in a speaking capacity than in any other time in my life. Being in front of my team, the community we had grown to love, many community members I had still not met, and leaders from other areas desirous to see what all the commotion had been about,... in that moment I realized that our dreams had come true and we had fulfilled our mandate. The audience was receptive and engaged. You could see a certain excitement, hope, confidence and sense of renewed commitment in their eyes. They now had access to a new waste management program, a community center that will be teaching computers, music, chess, drivers ed, health and much more as we continue to evolve. They have a new hope that they will soon be able to follow our guidelines in order to qualify for a loan that will certainly give them an opportunity to change their lives and their children’s lives. They have a new hope that Matoso can and will be something that none of them may have ever imagined. My speech was followed by the Assistant to the regional Chief. He spoke for a good length of time, validating our organization, our project and demanding that the community work to be able to ensure its success

As a result of a successful event as well as some meetings with regional leadership, we have been asked to duplicate our project in other areas near by. At the meeting were six members of West Kadem who had been chosen to for a committee in order to prepare the way and be an interface between us and the communities of the region. Following the event this committee met for the first time. Maurice was titled chairman, we chose a secretary and treasurer and I was given the title of project director within this committee. We discussed a proper sequence of focuses and what we would be able to do in the short term and in the long term. I have already made a commitment that I will be back in the next several months in order to help break ground. The great thing is that now we have a very intelligent, capable and prominent team, with government mandate to assist us from here on out.

There were many who wondered if we would be successful. We had basically no experience and no money and very little time. We have a beautiful new community center with an extremely capable hired full time manager. We have a growing loan program for the community. We have a new waste management system and more to come.

I know that we were successful because of the feelings of love and appreciation that we felt as we were gathering our things and preparing to leave. This was the most interesting and rewarding thing that I have ever done in my life.

If you are reading this right now please consider visiting www.schap.info and contributing, even if you have already. We raised $20K in the last six months and we need to raise $100K in the next six months.

Thank you for taking the time to read this blog about our travels and projects. The words of JFK can be applied in so many regards... and now I challenge you to work with us and so many others across the globe to reinforce an absolutely critical paradigm: as not what the world can do for you, but ask what can you do for the world.

To read more of Cory’s blog posts from the trip, visit www.coryglazier.blogspot.com.

Taste Of Africa Event Video

Sun, 16 Aug 2009 01:13:53 -0700

Here is a video from our event in May, ‘Taste Of Africa’. Enjoy!

In Africa Now!

Tue, 11 Aug 2009 15:05:15 -0700

Click here to read about the SCHAP Team in MATOSO!

SCHAPtastic Photos

Sat, 11 Jul 2009 14:46:13 -0700

Click here to view all the photography from SCHAPtastic!!

SCHAPtastic!!

Fri, 10 Jul 2009 01:10:47 -0700

As we all know, our big fundraising event SCHAPtastic is tomorrow, Saturday July 11th! Please look at our events page for more details. We hope to see you all there!

SCHAP on NPR... Listen to the live recording!

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 13:19:14 -0700

Click here to read article or listen live below...

First Mexico Trip! Transform Arte!

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 13:19:15 -0700

Today we went on our first trip to Mexico. We visited our friends at Transform Arte in hopes of starting another project. We came back with lots of ideas. Click here to see photos from today!

Cory’s International Politics & Philosophy | IF...

Fri, 26 Jun 2009 13:30:07 -0700

Hi, My name is Cory Glazier. I will be maintaining a blog regarding international politics. I will create posts that I consider to be interesting and important for us global citizens. My intentions are not to promote any one political party, cause, or ideology, but to share information as well as my thoughts about current world events. I hope that you enjoy this blog. Please feel free to e-mail me with any suggestions of ideas for potential blog posts or create your own and email it to me for approval to be posted in this blog.

We have decided to start a blog that allows for all of our members to add inspiring thoughts and ideas... those that revolve around humanitarian work, the environment, international politics, economics, domestic affairs as well as that which inspires and motivates readers to become better global citizens. A Global CItizen, by definition, is "one who considers every plot of land his own backyard and every man a brother. This will effect him sufficiently to motivate pro-active engagement in finding and administering sustainable solutions to the social, political, economic and environmental issues which thwart the freedom of billions of our brothers ad sisters in preserving their inalienable right of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." We encourage our members to visit this blog regularly so that we can all grow together. I will kick off this blog with what I consider to be the best poem that I have EVER read. The first time that I heard it it stuck to me like your mom told you that peanut butter would stick to your ribs. I do my best to take personal responsibility for the things that happen to me in my life as well as strive to live a life of clarity, based upon true philosophy rather than allowing the blinding and detrimental beasts: fear, judgmental, negativity, doubt, idleness to control my life. We all fall below our goals sometimes. THe following is a poem that has the power to change my state of mind instantly and has been a powerful reference when making life decisions. I hope that you enjoy it as much as I have and that you will take the time to share with us the things in life that have been most inspiring to you. Thanks Rudyard.  

If...
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too:
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream---and not make dreams your master;
If you can think---and not make thoughts your aim,
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same:.
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build'em up with worn-out tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings,
And never breathe a word about your loss:
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings---nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much:
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And---which is more---you'll be a Man, my son!

Lindsay’s Sustainable Planet

Thu, 25 Jun 2009 13:30:08 -0700

Sustainability is not only a word but a concept. It is the capacity to endure and the first letter in the acronym of SCHAP. While working on developing sustainable solutions to major poverty issues facing our fellow citizens of our planet, we need to simultaneously maintain and develop a healthy environment in which to thrive in. We need to proactively implement measures to sustain our planet so that our planet can sustain us! Like a seed that needs a balanced combination of water, sunlight and healthy soil, we as a growing race cannot flourish and grow into a more enlightened global community if just one of these necessities is not met. Unfortunately, through industrialization and an irresponsible resource extraction we have inhibited mother nature’s ability to provide us with these basic necessities for life and upset this natural balance. Ultimately, Sustainability means meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs. Through carefully examining our own daily behaviors and expanding our knowledge as well as shifting our attitudes towards building a more sustainable system we can begin to reconstruct a more nourishing and enduring environment.

SHIPMENT FROM AFRICA! Necklaces, bracelets & more!

Sat, 20 Jun 2009 14:02:35 -0700

Our necklaces are in! This long awaited box obviously had a long journey. We had to take a picture... this is exactly how it was delivered to us!

Check out our store!

Trevors Video

Sat, 20 Jun 2009 13:11:23 -0700

Trevor Davies video for the SCHAP team!

Taste Of Africa Event

Thu, 7 May 2009 13:19:16 -0700

Thank you to everyone who joined us tonight! We are beaming and couldn’t be any more excited about how the night went. We hope you enjoyed being there, as much as we enjoyed having you with us. It was overwhelming to feel the support and we appreciate the investments you made towards our efforts. We promise to keep you up to date with how exactly your money is being used to improve the lives of the people in Matoso.

To see all the photos from the night... click here!