Latest Posting: November '07

Hello young adult friends. Hope you're doing well. I'm guessing the extra hour of sleep last night didn't hurt...! So you remember the Old Testament plagues--swarms of this or that creature raising havoc with the Egyptians because they were oppressing the Israelites? Well, I had a pretty good little infestation of small flies here in my kitchen--evidently they were attracted by my food scrap bowl that was eventually headed for the compost pile in my garden. I tried repeatedly to snare them--mostly by sneaking up and putting a plastic bag over the whole apparatus and then dashing outside with it and them. Not only comic, but marginally effective--there always seemed to be more by the next morning.

Until recently. They just suddenly disappeared--about the same time I noticed a small spider had set up shop right by the compost bowl. My first inclination was to sweep away the little guy and his modest web--but then I realized what was going on. Organic pest control! Just like down in Peru last summer when my Peace Corps friend Zandi and I visited her neighbor at his mountainside organic Fair Trade coffee grove. When I asked him about pest control, he pointed to HUGE spiders with massive webs all over the place.

Organic pest control. We have some pests in this world--the military government in Burma , the never-ending crisis in Darfur , a culture of earth-consuming consumption here at home, swarming climate change everywhere. What can we do to get rid of these pests? That's our job--and we each have a part to play--itsy-bitsy spiders, all of us.

Weave that web baby.

In this edition of You asked for it ...

• Burma  -  400,000 v. 400,000
• Project: Nimule - Young adults' $12,000 challenge
• Solidarity Workers -  go, meet, learn, serve...be changed
• Retreat! - Join us!
• Education, sweatshop bills before Congress - Your support needed!
• Enviro Fact, Justice Fact, Faith Fact

Take care. Keep hope. Give love.

David

• Burma     Things are still tense in Burma , the southeast Asian country where Buddhist monks led a protest against the military government in the early part of the fall--before being set upon by government troops and thugs. There are 400,000 troops and 400,000 monks--both drawn from the poorer classes. Who would you put your money on? Check out our new homepage for stories and pics from my trip there.  We're hoping to take a Learning Tour to Burma at the end of next summer--would love to have you along--they need our support:   To be involved in Burma advocacy, click here.
• Project: Nimule  We sent four young adults to Sudan this past summer to live and work in the community of Nimule along the Nile River just across from Uganda . They came home with a challenge to NCP to raise $12,000 on top of what we're already doing in this community. HELP! Here's the link!
• Solidarity Workers   We'll send up to 8 more volunteers to Nimule as well as to other places next summer. Check it out--could be you!  Another good site to explore volunteer opportunities...
• Retreat!  For the second year running, NCP-type folks are invited to the mountains of Virginia for a one-day retreat over Thanksgiving weekend. Hear EMU student Emily Young (Sudan Solidarity Worker) tell about her experiences in Nimule, and NCP's new sustainability expert Tom Benevento talk about permaculture and living in a more natural way. David and Daniel Radcliff also in the house. Register by Nov. 15!
• Sweatshops/Child Education   For once a couple pieces of legislation to get excited about! Here's one that would penalize corporations using sweatshop labor ; this one gives funds for education of children around the world--the best way to escape the sweatshop trap!   Contact info: US House  US Senate
• Enviro Fact: Mountaintop glaciers in the Himalayas are predicted to shrink from 300,000 square miles to 60,000 square miles by 2030, due to global warming. Here and elsewhere, this snowpack provides dry season water for 40% of the world's people. The snow is disappearing--then what...?
• Justice Fact: 3000 African children die every day from malaria. One-third of these deaths could be prevented by sleeping under a treated bed net at night. Cost: $10
• Faith Fact: "If you truly execute justice with one another, if you do not oppress the alien, the fatherless or the widow, or shed innocent blood in this place, or go after other gods to your own hurt, then I will let you dwell in this place..." Jeremiah 7:5-7  (Jeremiah was called to be a prophet as a young adult in 628 BC and continued for over 40 years. He was known for speaking truth to power, which got him in a little bit of trouble every now and then...)