Haute or Hot Vanilla with Almond Lace Cookies

What a strange winter this has been. I live in Santa Cruz, not far

A California New Year: Sunshine and Dungeness Crab

With the arrival of the new year, the 2011 retail season

Too Many Egg Whites? Here’s a Thought

If there is a gene that predisposes us to love dessert, I have it. For the last several days I have been eating

Edible Squash Bowls

I admit it — I love to look at Martha Stewart magazines and marvel at the brilliantly clever holiday magic, the perfectly decorated cookies, the floral displays,

Stop Breast Cancer by 2020 — Is It Possible?

230,500 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in the United States in 2012.  40,000 will die from it.   This means that 124 women per 100,000 will be diagnosed with breast cancer.  For women born now,

Lots Of Pink, But Where Is The Cure?

Yesterday, when I started this blog, my plan was to write one article as it is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and this is a very personal cause for me. 

The Vanilla.COMpany Turns Ten: Celebrating a Miracle

How do we measure time?  Years, decades, significant events, transformative experiences?

I’ve been pondering this over the past few weeks  for a couple of reasons. 

Arriving in Athens For A Spectacular Storm!

It was difficult to leave Italy.   It felt as if we had barely scratched the surface  and there were  so many more places to visit!  But a ferry in Bari was waiting for us to board for an overnight ride to Patros

Sending Help and Hope to the Horn of Africa

Did you know that five dollars will feed a Somali for two weeks? That there are reliable organizations that donate 100% of their money directly to the people?  Here’s a simple way that you can be a philanthropist and make a huge difference!

Unless you’ve been on holiday for the last two months and haven’t seen a paper or TV, you already know that the worst drought in 60 years is forcing thousands of desperate people to walk long distances from rural villages to refugee camps or big  cities  in a frantic search for food and water.  Over 11 million people in Somalia alone are in need of immediate help.  Ethiopia, Eritrea, Djbouti, Kenya and Northern Uganda are also faced with starvation as rains haven’t arrived for over two years.

This is not an easy time anywhere in the world, but those of us in industrialized countries at least have resources for food and water.  Our brothers and sisters in the Horn of Africa not only have no resources, they are also facing the ravages of a failed state-turned violent in Somalia, and ineffective, corrupt governments in most of the other countries.

It’s easy to be caught in our own stories.  We’re busy, we’re stressed, we’re worried about work, our families, ourselves.  Many of us would like to help but we’re living on a tight budget.  Others of us would happily donate if we know that our money will actually reach the people in need.

There are a number of agencies that I feel are very reliable and where help is arriving.  One is the International Rescue Committee and another is the UN Human Rights Commission

However, there are smaller, grassroots organizations where no one takes a salary and 100% of your donations go directly to food, supplies, tents and medical care.  The African Future is a group of Canadian Somalis who are working directly with people in Somalia. They are in partnership with Somalis in the United States and are together collecting donations for refugees. My friend Ubax Gardheere is a member of the Seattle Somali community and working with The African Future.  Send $5.00 to feed a Somali child for two weeks!  That’s less than a sandwich and a soda!

Hope Without Borders was started in 2005 by friends Lance and Julie Parve.  Lance is a civil engineer and member of Engineers Without Borders.  Julie is a nurse practitioner working in clinics with Somali Refugees in Wisconsin.  In the 1980s they volunteered for two years at a hospital in Somalia and have remained committed to providing training and assistance in creating sustainable projects in Eastern Africa, especially in Somalia and Kenya.  They underwrite all of the work they do and all donations go directly for medical supplies, tools, equipment and other needs.  Currently they are raising funds for tents, medicines and other urgently needed supplies for refugee camps.

We’re all riding on this small space ship together.  What happens across the world from us affects us as well.  Whether you can afford $5.00 or $5,000, you may be saving the life of a future doctor, scientist, social worker, teacher or world leader.   If you have been reluctant to send money to an organization over concern that it will be used appropriately, you now have the connection to four groups where your money will be wisely applied.  Again, it’s theafricanfuture.org  or hwb-usa.org  in case you didn’t click through on the earlier links.

Thank you for reading this and for your support to our African brothers and sisters!

Sailing the Amalfi Coast

Just writing the title of this entry draws me back to the beautiful Southern Coast of Italy.  It’s rugged, with towns carved from rocky promontories and scrubby vegetation deeply entrenched into the landscape,