Medina

                             Author Carrie
                              Medina shares her
                              adventures both
                              on and off the water at
    her personal site, Waterblogged
    Stories. Ms Medina draws from her
    rich experience as a single adoptive
    parent with eight children who has
    lived in both Puerto Rico and the
    United States. Writing on diverse
    issues including grief and loss,
    parenting, the environment, and
    cultural social issues, she has given
    conferences in both Oregon and
    Washington states. Ms Medina has
    written publications for the State of
    Oregon, is a collaborator at the
    Review of the Indigenous Caribbean
    Center and is anticipating the
    release of her newest book in June
    of 2010.
Waterblogged Stories
waterblogged stories
Waterblogged Stories ~ Travels, Adventures and Mishaps.
        Follow along with Waterblogged Stories!
                           CLICK HERE TO ACCESS FULL BLOG SITE


I am paddling Dusk to Dawn to save a life!
http://www.firstgiving.com/bcpc that's right, I am paddling Dusk to Dawn
to save a life, or many if I can get enough sponsors. Please consider a
gift of $30 or more. $30 provides water for one person for LIFE! Visit
Blue Planet Run and sponsor me in my July paddle from Dawn to
Dusk! More info at the site! And dont forget, Steff say's, "Pee in the
shower, it saves water!"


Habitat For Humanity & BCPC
It's 6:30 am on a Saturday morning and my alarm goes off. I hit the
snooze button. The snooze alarm doesn't have a chance to go off, as I
am up with anticipation of the days events. Coach has excused us
from boot camp practice for the morning so that we may represent
Bridge City Paddling Club as volunteers for the West Willamette
Habitat for Humanity house build in Beaverton.  Susi will be here to
pick me up in one hour. I climb out of the shower and, with one eye
open, dig for my work boots, layers of warm clothes and top it off with
my Bridge City T-shirt. Breakfast is a cheese stick and glass of water
to slug down my morning thyroid pill. Susi is headed up the stair case
before I know it and we are loading her car with packed lunches before
heading out to Starbucks for a cup of energy...

more


The Hundred Acre Wood
      There are changes and awareness's that happen when you move
from one country to the next. Some of them are more obvious, even if
still startling, like suddenly realizing that the overhead music is being
played in English at a major airport. Don't laugh, that one actually took
me by surprise. Then there are the completely unexpected that could
never have occurred to you, except for the fact that you have indeed
moved from a countryside mountain community to the bustling center
of a major US city. Some of those moments can impact you in ways
you may never expect.  
    Living in the countryside in the central mountains of any country,
there are things you adjust to, things that become regular and normal,
that are not so normal in the city. Being the single mother of a large
group of children was one of those things. Being the ONLY the mother
of a mentally retarded child is another. Like Tigger, living in the
Hundred Acre Wood, it seemed that we were ''the only one.'' There
was...
Read More

Removing Haiti's Future
     I have a friend who works for a major newspaper and has been
flown to Haiti to cover the story. Warnings of graphic images appear
on the main internet site and albums of photos are shown. The images
are so beyond what one human being can fully take in, the human
suffering spilling out of each photo.

    As I sit at home, trying to comprehend the devastation, I am
overwhelmed with compassion for my neighbors, worry, thankfulness
that it was not me, not my home, not my island all these emotions
stewing about in a muddy soup. I am thankful for the media who have
rushed in to cover the story, to bring the worlds focus on those in
extreme distress and need.

    I am grateful for the Red Cross and other relief agencies, flying in
from many countries, providing the most basic of needs to as many as
they possibly can. Not all will be helped, many more will die of
dehydration, untreated injury, or will perish while still being trapped
under the rubble. The rescue workers will be witness to the further
tradegy. They will never forget what they see first hand, always
remember a particular place, or face and will carry it with them for a
lifetime. These are the unsung heroes, volunteering to relieve, if only
for a brief moment, the unimaginable grief of thousands.

    What shall be done with the island, the people, the orphaned
children? Some have suggested that Haiti's orphans be flown to the
USA in a repeat of Operation Peter Pan. Rather than give a political
history of that operation, I will only state that the situation in Haiti is
quite different from the children flown out of Cuba in those days. I am
not saying the the Hatian children should not be flown out. My concern
is for the well being of them regardless of where they are taken. They
clearly can not live in a city of rubble surrounded by the dead.
However, whom will be responsible for these children? Who will be
accountable to assure that each and every child is returned to their
rightful family or community in better shape then what they arrived,
and not forgotten in some system? Removing a child from their family,
from their culture, from their community is not justice. Who will make
sure that each child is given a sense of community and an opportunity
to become their best despite the worst of circumstances?

    These are complicated issues in which an immediate crisis
response must be addressed, but let us not forget the long term
affects and continue to support a better future for Haiti. I believe
permanently removing their children is not the answer.

    Removing children permanently from their culture, their families and
their country is a very bad idea. To take in a mother and child is one
thing, but to separate them permanently because of poverty or
disaster is an unjust way to deal with this tragedy. There is no way to
quickly place any of these children without making serious mistakes.
Every effort must first be made to deal with the crisis and meet the
needs of all Haitian's before we consider removing the most precious
resource Haiti has, her children.

Comment
Counter

Waterblogged Labels