Mistekima

This is Mistekima. Mistekima is ten years old and living with the horrible disfigurements caused by Noma. She has been abandoned by her family and been surviving on her own in Ethiopia. Chris Lawrence of Facing Africa (www.facingafrica.org) will be participating in an event in the UK to raise money to support the facial reconstruction for Mistekima. (Chris Lawrence and his surgical team will be visiting Addis Ababa in October to perform surgies on multiple victims of the Noma disease). It has been predicted that Mistekima will need many surgeries in order to live a somewhat normal life. One surgery costs approximately $1,280. It is in our best interest to raise enough to pay for all of Mistekima's surgical needs within the years to come. If you would like to donate to Mistekima's surgery's and help her lead a normal life in Ethiopia please visit www.facingafrica.org or contact me directly at 4sarabeth@gmail.com for more information.

thank's for reading,

Es Bee

City of Lost Children

Last night I clicked a link on an email update from a non-profit organization that I follow which lead me to an article in the Daily Pilot by Kent Treptow. Trent wrote an article and made a photo exhibit sharing about the story of  groups of children that have made homes out of manholes in Ulaanbaatar Mongolia.

For those of you who are unaware, Ulaanbaatar is the capital of Mongolia and besides being a city that faces extreme poverty, it is also the coldest capital in the world. Throughout Kent's slideshow of photos and narrative, he shares the story of a group of children cast out onto the streets to survive  in these harsh conditions due to abandonment, abuse, or other unfavorable circumstances. The manholes exert heat from the hot water pipes, making the area a favorable place for the children to sleep. More often then not, burns will be seen on the children's clothing and body from accidently touching the hot water pipes. Some of the manholes that Kent observed contained pipes that allow access to clean drinking water for to the kids to drink. Unfortunately, the water did not come without a price. Where water is present, so are cockroaches, dogs, and rats.

Kent focuses the his last few pictures in the slideshow on the positive actions taken by the Christina Nobel Children's Foundation to help the kids get out of the manholes and in to a positive environment where they can learn, grow, and live more comfortable lives. The main solution for getting children out of the manholes and into more favorable living situations is Ger villages, which the foundation is working to provide through funding and donations. Kent also shares about a former street child who was rescued, now works for the organization to find and rescue other children, and is currently attending a university to become a camera man for television.

You can find more details on this story by  reading Kent Treptows article: "City of Lost Children," and viewing his photo slideshows at the following link:

http://www.dailypilot.com/articles/2009/06/15/special_reports/mongolia/video/doc48727368f302e317521671.txt

Or, visit the Christina Nobel Foundation site to find out more about her cause and the projects the foundation had been working on in Mongolia to help resolve this challenge:

http://www.cncf.org/en/mongolia/aboutmongolia.php

Again, these sites have great information on this topic. Kent's photography is really unique and the story gives you a personal look at what these kids go through. Due to the extreme poverty levels in this location, the majority of the kids have no other option but to live this way because this is all they know. The Christina Nobel Foundation has started a "Give a Ger Fund" which builds Gers through donation money. If touched by Kent's photographs and narrative, I encourage you to start a "Ger box" allowing co workers or friends to dump extra change in and help give these kids a chance to struggle a little less.

Till Next Post,

Es Bee

3784 Cycle Across the USA

Greg Evens is an ordinary 19 year old doing an extraordinary thing. Greg is currently on day 34 of his truck across the US via bicycle. He left from Yorktown on May 1st and plans to make it to San Francisco approximately two and a half months later. If he makes it all the way there, he will be the youngest cyclist to ever to cycle across the US alone. What is even more extraordinary about this trip is that Greg is doing his cycle in the name of the kids who have survived Noma. Before he started his ride he got people to sponsor him and is having all the money go to Facing Africa. If you would like to follow his journey through the US place follow Greg's blog at: http://gregstransamericacycle.blogspot.com/

Peace

When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace.

                                                           -Jimi Hendrix

Disease of Poverty

Many of you who will read this blog, know that I currently work in the skin care industry. This is a field full of individuals focused towards correcting facial imperfections to increase their clients perception of themselves. After all, the first thing people look at when they meet you is your face.

Outside of my day job, I enjoy researching about socially responsible companies wether it be for profit or non-profit to see what types of ideas and actions are currently in play towards improving the quality of life for all. I find it fascinating that the majority of us, regardless of nationality, religion, or income status come together to create or support causes that touch our hearts.

From the beginning of my research, I have found a particular concern and yearning to support many of the issues that confront various countries within Africa. One day while searching the internet, I stumbled on some graphic images of kids who have survived a disease called Noma. When I first saw these images I was, to say the least, taken back. I did not want to believe the images were real, but new I could not burry my head in the sand.

After viewing the pictures, it was very difficult to find information on the disease. It appears that many doctors have not heard of Noma. The one creditable website that I have found for Noma is a non-profit organization based out of the UK called Facing Africa, (www.facingafrica.org). Facing Africa is dedicated to funding trips to Nigeria and Ethiopia and providing voluntary surgeons and supplies to perform facial reconstructions on survivors of Noma and other facial disfigurements related to extreme poverty. I emailed the organization immediately trying to find ways to help with what little money I had. Chris Lawrence, the founder (and now very good friend) of Facing Africa was very helpful in giving me more information about the disease and what his organization is doing to help Noma survivors lead normal, more comfortable lives.

Noma is known as the "Disease of Poverty" and is most prevalent in children under six. It starts as a fever, and in malnourished children progresses and creates an ulcer in the mouth. If the ulcer goes untreated the infection begins to eat away the skin of the cheek, lips, and sometimes eats through the palate and eye. In infants the lips deteriorate which leaves them unable to breast feed and eventually they die.

Below is a video about Noma and the Facing Africa organization.

According to the World Health Organization approximately 140,000 new cases of Noma are found each year, this does not include the many cases that are not discovered due to the social taboo that is associated with the disease. An estimated 90% of the children who become infected with Noma die. Those who survive are left with severe facial disfigurements that cause discomfort in normal daily activities.

After learning about Noma and seeing the pictures of the children effected with Noma, I have gained several new perspectives. In the skin care industry,  already beautiful women and men receive facial treatments and procedures everyday to make them look even more beautiful. Learning about Noma really makes you take a second look at about how you judge what you see in the mirror everyday. I look at the kids in the video above, and wonder how I ever stressed over something so small as a pimple. The kids also exert such a fierce glow of inner beauty, they are so strong for waking up each day and living with the cards that they have been dealt. The contents within the video and the Facing Africa site truly touched my heart. If the information in the post did anything for you, I would like to encourage you to share it with others, and spread the word about Facing Africa and this completely preventable disease.

*The information an images in this blog come directly from the Facing Africa website or from conversations with Chris Lawrence the founder of Facing Africa.

The Beginning

Hi, I'm Es-Bee. Welcome to my blog. Within the contents of these pages you will find stories, causes, and experiences that captivate my heart and ring true to my soul. Please read with an open mind, take what resinates with you, and leave the rest if you choose. My hope is that the contents within this blog will be shared like one big game of "telephone".

...By one story shared, one donation could be made, one life could be saved, one idea could suffice, and thousands, perhaps millions, of people could live more comfortably.