Ethiopia

Hi Everyone,

Things are so great in Ethiopia!  I love the kids and the clinics have been great.  We spent two days in Addis Ababa doing clinic duties and I have been  helping in the Pharmacy–now I guess that I have a new career option if I get bored with being a psychologist.  I never dreamed that I would be filling prescriptions!  

On Friday we split up into two groups.  One team flew to Bahir Dar and my team took a 3 hour or so bus ride to Zeway.  We all just returned last night after a couple of days of clinic.  The people were amazing and the kids were so sweet.  They just greeted us when we walked up-wanting to shake hands and hug us Some had practiced English phrases and would say “Hello, my name is ____. What is your name?” Very sweet.  I don’t have access to load my pictures yet, but you will just melt when you see them!

So just some background info and a few stories.  First, Ethiopia has about 5 million orphans–beautiful children without parents–some are lucky enough to live in an orphanage–others have to struggle with living on the streets.  I just heard that there are 750,000 children living on the streets in Addis alone.  And I have to tell you–the streets here in Addis scared me when we first got here so I can’t imagine being a child and having to survive on the streets. I don’t know if it’s just typical Western paranoia or if it’s legitimate, but we have been told not to walk alone–even during the day here so imagine a vulnerable child with no one to protect him or her.  It is the wet season so it rains almost daily and there are no sidewalks in Addis that I’ve seen, so you either walk on the edge of the road or through the damp or muddy sides of the road.  I can’t imagine sleeping out there.  It’s so important that we do what we can to help these children forced into the circumstances through no fault of their own.

On Thursday, a 14 year-old boy came to clinic.  There was some confusion as he had a Mission of Mercy case number, but others who knew the child that the number belonged to said that it wasn’t him.  When asked about it, he explained that he was worried that he wouldn’t be treated if he didn’t have a case number and that his friend gave him his case number.  His parents were both dead and he has a grandmother, but spends lots of time on the streets.  His grandmother told him that he had a rare case of TB and that would have to take meds the rest of his life.  Well one day, he was on the streets and a beggar had his hand out with his meds in his hand.  I guess that they do this to show that they have AIDS.  He also had a sign that he had AIDS in his hand.  This boy looked at the meds and they were the same ones that he is taking.  So a fourteen-year-old boy learned that he had AIDS through a beggar.  He went to his grandmother and confronted her about it and she said that he could never tell anyone or he would be ostrocized.  Not knowing could also cause him to unknowingly spread the AIDS virus.  Of course, Mission of Mercy took him on as one of their children and will continue to help him.  The local government does provide AIDS medications once someone is in their system.  What an amazing story of a friend trying to help his friend get some answers and treatment by sharing his own case number–pretty amazing.

OK, on a lighter note, the coffee is fantastic here!  It’s thick like in Brazil, very strong, and is so yummy!  It is very hard to be a Vegan here, so have caved to the fact that I’ll have to have regular milk in my coffee and I’m paying for it!  I have a milk allergy–have since I was a child–and just realized as I’m typing this that my stuffy nose is due to all of the milk that I’ve been getting by way of coffee.  I had a chance to eat Wat and Endura a couple of days ago.  These are traditional Ethiopian foods of spicy lentils and a special Ethiopian bread.  I heard that people either love it or hate it.  A man showed me how to eat it the traditional way and it was so good.  By the way, no stomach issues as of now.  I’m being pretty careful, so hopefully, it will last!

By the way, I appreciate each and every one of you for your love and support.  I promise to add pictures when I get home and more stories later about my adventures here in Ethiopia.  I will tell you more stories later–there are lots of good ones

Peace and love,

Donna

The Beach, George Harrison, Hanging it out over a cliff!

 

Saturday June 7th, 2008

 

Today, Jenny picked me up at 1:00 and took me to the beach. As we were on our way there, she told me about the time that she went with Haley Mills to George Harrison’s home for a Hare Krishna event. I guess that Haley became involved with the Hare Krishna movement through her boyfriend who was Twiggy’s former boyfriend. Hopefully, I’ve got this all straight…wasn’t taking notes during the conversation! I’m really glad that I’m a bit older so that I’ve heard of all of these people that Jenny speaks about.  And of course, George Harrison has always been my favorite Beatle

She also told me about some of the environmental mistakes that NZ is making—shoot, I meant to get a picture of her bumper sticker! I think that it said something about 1080 kills. It’s some kind of toxin that is made in Alabama. She tells me that it was used for various horrible reasons in Europe a long time ago and has been used as a pesticide I believe, but it’s polluting everything. I guess that they spray it from helicopters. The locals are fighting its use and although the government doesn’t want tourists to know that it’s being used, it seems that the locals would like this information to get out so that things will change and it will be discontinued.  So I’m doing my part in getting the info out–hopefully, the US will quit manufacturing this chemical for other countries when we won’t even allow it’s use in our own!   It would be a shame to ruin this beautiful place by making poor environmental choices. Oh, she said that NZ didn’t have public showings of “An Inconvenient Truth.” She saw it through a private showing and cringed when Al Gore said that NZ was the safest place to be on the planet. NZ has a population of about 4 million and I think that she was afraid that it might increase dramatically if too many people know exactly how amazing it is here…even with some of it’s challenges.

Jenny is also a photographer and took some great pictures of me precariously perched on a tree that hung over a kind of cliff. I have to admit, it was a little scarey climbing out on the tree, but she kept coaxing me out a bit further. Afterward, she apologized for putting me in a bit of danger, but said that the shot was too good to pass up! I told her that I’m on a mission for no MO’s (missed opportunities) so that it was OK Now, Marke, I think that you’d even agree that a photo op is too important to add the “with boundaries” clause!

I LOVE this place! I LOVE the people…native and those just passing through! I LOVE my life! I don’t know what I’ve done to deserve the opportunity to be here on this journey, but I’m very grateful for the experience

http://www.flickr.com/photos/75198547@N00/sets/72157605601118354/show/

Hugs and Kisses,

Donna

Pics from NZ

Sorry…no time to write…here are some pics from NZ!  It takes so long to download!  Will add more later   It’s so beautiful here! 

Addendum to this post:  Here’s all the pics from New Zealand!  Not the same as being there but I hope that you enjoy them   http://www.flickr.com/photos/75198547@N00/sets/72157605601118354/show/

Peace and love,

Donna

A few pics from San Fran

Hi Everyone,

Internet access is limited and slow here, so here are just a few pics from San Fran…will add more with details later   Here’s the link for the pics:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/75198547@N00/sets/72157605547394335/

Hope that all is well with you…

Donna

Brief post for San Fran…will add more later :-)

San Fran was the ultimate veg event for me. Amy had done her research! We had reservations for Millineum on Sunday night—a high end vegan restaurant complete with chef and sous (sp?) chef. I’m writing this on Friday afternoon, so I’ve forgotten exactly what we had, but it was excellent! We had a beer battered asparagus for an appetizer, and I’m totally spacing the entrees—they were so good—hmmm I better look them up on the web and get the actual details!

On Monday, we went to this great tea house and I had the Ganesh meal—curried tofu with basmati rice and chai tea…it was so good! Amy had something else…can’t remember the name of it…but it had fresh fruit, a raspberry scone, and a quiche I believe with chai…she seemed to enjoy it as well.

I’m including pics from both places. Amy was the best host ever—even though she isn’t vegetarian, she researched everything and shared some amazing places with me during my time with her in Northern California!

Will add pics later!

Peace and love,

Donna

OK, I’m not coming home! (Just kidding!)

New Zealand – Coramandel and Coville

So I traveled from San Fran to LA, LA to Auckland, Auckland to Thames, Thames to Coramandel, and Coramandel to Colville without much of a break (so no need to explain why I look so tired in the pictures with Stephanie and Jenny!). Amy dropped me off at the airport in San Fran at about 12ish on Monday and I flew to LA at about 3:00 I think, then had to wait a couple of hours in LA for my flight to Auckland. I finally got to Mahamudra Center at about 1:30 p.m. on Wednesday. I didn’t have anyone sitting next to me on the plane, so was able to stretch out across two seats to nap a little, but I couldn’t sleep too well. Surprisingly, I easily found a bus—not the shuttle that I had originally planned to take to the bus terminal. Met a couple of nice people in line who were also traveling long distances across oceans and countries…most people I meet are doing the fly around the world airfare…I’ll have to check into this when I have longer periods of time to travel.

I met a Kiwi named Stephanie at the bus station. She’s a student at the University in Auckland. We sat together on the bus and she taught me all about NZ. First, just in case any of you had some misinformation (like me!)—New Zealanders refer to themselves as Kiwis…not after the fruit (which isn’t originally from New Zealand), but after the bird—a pretty big brown bird that doesn’t fly, but is native to New Zealand. It’s feathers look like fur and it has thin legs…Stephanie drew me a picture of it on her Blackberry-like device. She also taught me about the education system, the Maori culture, and the Greenies—it seems that lots of New Zealanders are in to keeping NZ clean and unpolluted and they also won’t allow factory farming here. The bus took us through lots of farming land and I have to admit, the cows that I saw seemed pretty content—lots of room to graze the beautiful green hillsides.

I was trying to figure out how to get a hold of Karl, the bus driver, to get from Coromandel to Mahamudra in Colville. By the way New Zealanders definitely live up to their reputation of being very friendly! A woman at the information center let me leave my luggage there (sans yoga mat—I forgot it in the little van that had just dropped me off!) so that I could figure out how to get my ride to Mahamudra. I did have a few struggles, but really didn’t experience any stress. First, I went to use the pay phone to call Mahamudra and Karl, but it wouldn’t take my calling card or my credit card! It also didn’t take change. So I went to a little organic grocery store—Terri’s—and they were so nice and they let me use their phone. I learned when I called the center that Karl was the postman, so went across the street to the post office and learned that he was gone and I probably wasn’t going to get a ride from him! Luckily, Jenny overheard that I was looking for a ride and offered to give me a lift since she was going that way.

So, I hitched a ride (mom don’t freak out!) with Jenny and her two dogs to Colville! Jenny used to put together the outfits for a band from London called Thin Lizzie as well as Graham Nash. She rolls her own cigarrettes (lots of people seem to smoke here) and she has lead a very free spirited adventurous life. She offered to come and get me yesterday (Thursday) to take me to the beach, but I didn’t make it into town—Richie and I were waiting for Stephan to return with the car, but it took longer than expected, so we didn’t make it—will go to town with Richie and Stephan later today to post this blog and send some emails, so will call Jenny while I’m there.

So backing up to continue the the story about my challenges—so I only had $100 in NZ currency—spent $20 for bus ticket and a bottle of water—and then when I was trying to buy groceries at Terri’s, they didn’t take my kind of credit card there—so, I have limited cash and credit cards that don’t work at the store or on the phone! Amazingly, I didn’t freak out! I figured that things would work out—spent $50 of my cash on groceries and then met Jenny for my ride. She took me to a little cafe in Colville before dropping me off at Mahamudra. There was a little store next to the cafe and Yeah! their machine took my credit card with no problem, so was able to purchase some more food!

So, I got to Mahamudra and the office didn’t open until 2:00 and I wanted a shower sooo bad! So Brendan, one of the people staying here, showed me where the group showers were and told me that it was OK to use someone’s towel there and I was able to get cleaned up. I’m learning to be very flexible—and it’s really not that challenging. I am having to be flexible about being a vegan (don’t always have a choice for soy versus milk) and I don’t know if I’ve ever used someone else’s used but dry towel before! But it’s really exciting to go beyond my typical boundaries. I’m learning that I’m a lot more flexible than I ever dreamed and I’m having the time of my life!

Will tell you more about my time with Amy in San Fran and my time here at Mahamudra in the next blog, but need to do some yoga and meditation before heading into town. Please don’t feel bad when I say that although I love all of you very much, I haven’t had much time to think about Arizona, etc…too busy having an amazing time and enjoying my new adventurous life…probably a good thing that my condo didn’t sell before I left or I might not come back for reals!

I will post the pics later…internet is very slow!

Peace and love,

Donna

Having a wonderful time in Davis/Sacramento

So yesterday, I took a walk…I walked and walked.  I haven’t walked anywhere in a very long time.  Things seem so spread out back home and I’m always so short on time that I just don’t seem to take the time to walk.  It has been beautiful in Davis…in the upper seventies, sunny, beautiful  

On my walk, I saw students leaving school (I had such a leisurely morning that I didn’t leave the house until students where getting out of school!), I saw beautiful big trees, I saw the U of C Davis campus and older students, I saw adult ducks and baby ducks, a squirrel, a couple of blue birds, and James–a grad student and tarot card reader.  Then I walked down B Street, but think that it should be called Peace Street instead.  I saw a house with a Peace Sign, a house with a war is not the answer sign, and two cars with Peace bumper stickers.   I had a great day!

Amy brought me some stolen cherries when she returned from work…I felt so naughty eating stolen cherries!  They were really wonderful.  Amy’s co-worker said that he knew the people so they wouldn’t mind that he was taking cherries from their tree–even though there was a sign that said “Don’t pick the cherries!” 

Last night, Amy and I and Amy’s friend, Gabrielle, went to Sacramento to eat at this very cool Buddhist Veg restaurant called Andy Nguyen Restaurant.  The menu was just  beautiful.  We shared the Eight Fold Path Salad and Gabrielle had the Love of Life Soup, Amy had the Supreme Wisdom entre, and I had the Awakening of Faith entre.  When the server delivered my dish and said Awakening of Faith, I felt like we were beginning to share a beautiful philisophical conversation in addition to a beautiful dish.  

After that, we went to Kasbah Lounge and enjoyed wonderful music and belly dancers.  Maybe if I had tassles, I could shake my hips!

Today, I slept in again!  Wow, it’s so nice to not have to get up at 5:30!  I could get used to this   After a slow leisurely morning, we walked to the Farmer’s Market and the Co-op and bought some things to make a veg chili tonight.  If it’s good, I’ll add the recipe later.

 Here are some pics of my time in Davis/Sacramento:

 http://www.flickr.com/photos/75198547@N00/sets/72157605364639829/

Hope that you are having the most amazing day!

Donna

Friends :-)

My first post on the road.  I’m currently at my friend Amy’s place in Davis, California.  It was so nice to sleep in (poor Amy had to work!) and then slowly begin to ease into my day…it’s really incredible how at home I feel here.  Made some oatmeal, a cup of green tea, listening to some good music on my iPod…mmmm life is good.

I just wanted to take a moment to share how grateful that I am for friends…my friends are so much more than that…they are my family, the supporters of my dreams, healers of my heart, and I love them all very much. 

Last Friday, David hosted a bon voyage party for me at his house.  I have some pics that Ethan and Marke took at the party.  I hope that you enjoy the beauty of some of my wonderful friends   Here are the links:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/75198547@N00/sets/72157605343697393/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/75198547@N00/sets/72157605342834649/

I know that there are a lot of pics of Jade, David’s dog, but who can resist!

Anyway, going to take a walk through the arboretum and visit downtown Davis. 

Have a beautiful day!

Donna

Flow and Yin: A Balanced Yoga Practice DVD

Hi Everyone,

I recently learned that there was a clip of my DVD on Youtube.com. Here it is: If you’re interested in learning more, please visit http://www.practicekindness.com/flandyibayop.html. It is available for purchase through several sites including Amazon. Ten percent of the proceeds will be donated to Beyond the Orphanage.

Peace and happiness,

Donna

Welcome to The Karma Yoga Project Blog!

I leave on my big trip 4 weeks from today and plan on keeping a record of my journey to Northern California, New Zealand, Australia, Hawaii, and Ethiopia. This is a journey of a lifetime for me. I am ready to explore all aspects of myself–diving deep within to reveal the parts of me that have been suppressed for too long–including the Bohemian Hippie girl who just wants to commune with nature, make new friends everywhere I go, and make a positive difference in this lifetime .

I will spend time at a Buddhist Retreat Center in New Zealand, 5 days studying meditation with His Holiness, the Dalai Lama in Australia, maybe taking surfing lessons while in Oahu, and doing some volunteer work in Ethiopia. Can’t wait to get started! For those of you who don’t know me, I’m including some information below about how this all came about.

One day last Spring, I woke up. I woke up from a restless nights sleep…I woke up with the same thought that had plagued me all night…”I’m not living the life that I’m supposed to live.” I couldn’t understand where this thought was coming from. I had a great life–a comfortable relationship, a nice home, a wonderful career and so many great friends, and of course–my yoga practice–a spiritual experience that always sustains me through both beautiful and challenging circumstances. What more could I possibly need?

I tried to convince myself that everything was OK, but I couldn’t let go of this heart-felt yearning that I was not living the life that I was supposed to live–I was obsessed with this thought–and although I hid it pretty well from my family, friends, and colleagues, I couldn’t hide from myself. I actually thought that I was going through a mid-life crisis and that if I just hung in there, the thought would leave me and I could just go back to enjoying my life–just as it was. But that was not meant to be. I waited a month before making any changes, but after that I couldn’t ignore my heart any longer. I decided to leave behind my comfortable, secure life as I knew it–to move forward alone toward a life that was yet unclear and uncertain.

My life continues to evolve–almost faster than I can keep up with. And even if you haven’t noticed it yet, we are all in a state of becoming–even if you’re becoming isn’t as extreme as mine. I hope that you will listen to your heart–I hope that you will live the life that you are intended to live.

Wishing you so much peace and love,

Donna