Life at Banga's Farm

It's been a super fun, dirty, amazing and inspiring month at the farm. There have been bees, duststorms, chicks, good folk, fun dancing, tortilla-making, seed starting, hiking, onion burying, and sheep shearing. I'm looking forward to the next five months!

Project HOW

Tragically, the recent massacres that took place on the outskirts of Jos, Nigeria has forced Project HOW to cancel its mission to Evangel Hospital in Jos. One of our doctors and acting medical director, Dr. Ene George is traveling solo to Jos and will be supporting the doctors at Evangel Hospital as they perform an estimated 200 fistula surgeries. Dr. George will be staying with family in Jos and has promised us to stay safe!

Drs. Adele, Soile and Babalola, Selina Hayes and I will be traveling to Oyo State, Nigeria to conduct a rapid assessment of three hospitals. We'll be examining the feasibility of conducting a future mission in Oyo State, including determining how we can best support existing medical capabilities in the hospitals.

Follow us on our journey to Oyo State on our new Project HOW blog!

Survivors recount the Jos slaughter

Field to Fork

The Neighborhood Farm Initiative and some other good folks recently set up the Field to Fork Network for the DC area. The network is comprised of a few dozen organizations that are focused on changing the way we approach food production.

An interactive map of the community gardens that we developed this summer can be found here. The map includes photos and information for each of the 30 or so community gardes in DC.

There's also a short blurb on our recent movie shoot with peaches and sauerkraut.

Kilt Lifters

The Kilt Lifters decided to crash a 5K race in Alexandria last weekend.



Photo courtesy of Halo Photographic.

What happens when you give Dave five minutes

Dr. Dave Warner was asked to give a rapid fire five minute presentation at the Government 2.o conference. He focused on information sharing and humanitarian communication operations - including the ongoing work in Afghanistan.

And here it is.

Afghanistan and the beer for data program begin around the second minute.

Rockclimbing Pooch

Poor Bodhi had no idea he was about to be lowered down a 30 foot cliff. This is after his run in with the mamma bear and cubs and before his wasp attack. He had a rough weekend.

The Zydeco Danceathon!

Beth and I cruised on up to Clark, New Jersey for the wildy popular (for the 60 and up crowd) "Arn and Jerry's 2009 Danceathon". Our friends Brian and Robin live close by and had turned us on to this amazing cultural phenomena that takes place one a year in central Jersey. Beth and I finagled almost-free tickets in exchange for volunteering for a few hours at the food counter. It was a great way to meet folks and we had first dibs on the raspberry pie (sooo good).

While it was slightly odd being the only people under the age of 60, it did provide us with ample attention from the older dancers. We were even able to convince a few of them to do the chicken dance with us towards the end of the evening - not exactly a typical dance move at a zydeco dance. It was a fun time and brought back memories of dancing to Rockin Dopsie Junior and the Zydeco Twisters down in Loooosiana.

We spent the next morning with Brian and Robin checking out their cute town - New Jersey, who knew?

Beth with one of her many suitors

I got three dances with Bill!

Brian and Robin breaking it down on the dance floor

Waiting for someone to dance with us :(

The volunteers get a shout-out

Our 10-year-old nemesis A slightly young(er) person - but with the band