Loko Dadacha walks up to six hours, round trip, during times of drought to fetch water for her family. Photo by Eva-Lotta Jansson/Oxfam America
Our water bill came the other day. It was about 100 bucks—a spike from the month before and it left us scratching our heads. Where did all that water go? We hardly know because here, with water, it’s easy come, easy go. Turn on the tap and it gushes—hot, cold, or just right. It couldn’t require less effort. Read the rest of this entry »
Andrew Blejwas is Oxfam’s regional communications officer for the US.
When I first moved to Alabama five years ago, just about all I knew about the state was that it was hot, and Montgomery was known as both the cradle of the Confederacy and the birthplace of the Civil Rights Movement. But mostly, it was hot. So last week when we had what amounted to a cold snap—about three days of weather in the 50s—conversations usually started with some variation on the theme of global warming: “So much for global warming,” someone would say. Or, “We really could use some of that global warming about now.”
If only it were that easy to turn global warming on and off like a switch. For a lot of us, global warming is a euphemism for climate change, something we don’t fully understand, something happening somewhere else—certainly “not in my backyard.” Even in sweltering Alabama, we don’t talk about global warming until it gets cold. But climate change is happening, and it is in our backyard.
Jim French is a regional advocacy lead and an agricultural specialist for Oxfam America. He is also a fifth-generation farmer and rancher in south-central Kansas.
Last week, our friend Terry Steinhour died in a tractor accident while moving hay on his farm. Along with my colleagues Rasa Dawson and Katie Danko, I wanted to take a moment to remember Terry, a kind and gentle soul and a true advocate for Oxfam.
Oxfam America knew about Terry Steinhour before Terry knew much about Oxfam. In 2005, Oxfam field organizers were looking for American farmers that could become spokespeople in our campaign to reform US commodity subsidies. We searched in cotton and soybean fields, pastures, dairy barns, and sheep pens across the nation.
Terry Steinhour during his visit to Africa. Photo: Rasa Dawson / Oxfam America
Following a lead, Oxfam organizer Katie Danko reached out to a corn, soybean, and beef farmer outside of Springfield, Illinois. After a very short introduction during corn harvest, Terry had Katie behind the wheel of his combine.
“I had no idea what I was doing, and before I knew it too much corn went into the machine and stopped it cold. I thought it was broken,” recalls Katie.
But Terry gently handled the situation, cleaned out the stalks that plugged the header, and continued to build a wonderful relationship with Katie and the whole Oxfam team. In the next three years, Terry would write opinion pieces for area newspapers, meet with legislators, and take calls from radio interviewers from around the world.
This weekend in New York City, I’m going to be part of something truly unusual. I’ll be one of more than 2,000 people who will form a moving human sculpture of our world in a race against time: a massive, living planet earth and hourglass. Called the Human Countdown, this event will be broadcast by media outlets around the world, and will send an urgent message to leaders that time is running out to take action on climate change.
Why is now such a crucial time? Because, two days after this event, world leaders are gathering in New York for the UN Climate Summit—the first in a series of key moments when presidents and prime ministers will make major decisions about the future of our planet. Leaders, including President Obama, are meeting in New York and Pittsburgh in September and in Copenhagen in December, where they will decide whether or not to stop the clock on climate change.
I’ll be there, blogging about the event for Oxfam. And if you’re concerned about climate change—especially the way it’s already affecting poor people here and abroad—I hope you’ll be there too. Having just come back from Ethiopia, where I saw communities facing increasingly severe drought, I feel a new sense of urgency to get away from my desk and actually do something about it.
The Human Countdown will be held at the Wollman Rink in Central Park on Sunday, September 20, and will feature national and international speakers, celebrities, and great music. Sign up to be part of it on our website—hope to see you there.
In the year following Hurricane Katrina, Cleo and Martin Sylvester lived in a FEMA trailer while they put together the financing they needed to rebuild their own home. Photo by Steve Thackston/Oxfam America
On the fourth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina , Andrew Blejwas, one of our colleagues who has been working with many of the communities on the US Gulf Coast, looks back on the long years that have passed since that storm turned so many lives upside down and revealed so much about injustices in our country. Here are a few of his thoughts:
Four years after Katrina, a lot has changed. Many homes are rebuilt, there are far fewer trailers than there were just a year ago, and communities are beginning to get back on their feet. But not much has changed either. There should not be more homes to rebuild, there should not be any families still living in trailers, and communities should have more support getting back on their feet.
Though Hurricanes Katrina and Rita were one-time events, the issues they helped unmask in the region are pervasive and long-standing. It’s going to take more than just a few years worth of work to reverse the poverty and social injustice that are pervasive on the Gulf Coast of the US. Oxfam is making a commitment to address the long-term issues that affect the region and will continue to work with dedicated partners there who are already working tirelessly to do just that.
Yesterday, the body of U.S. Senator Edward M. Kennedy was transported to Boston for a public memorial at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library. All day, the doors of the library have stood open to mourners. Some of our own staff have headed down from our Boston headquarters this evening to the library to pay their respects as well.
Oxfam’s Raymond C. Offenheiser listens as the late Senator Edward M. Kennedy speaks at an event in Washington, DC, in February 2006. Photo by Christopher O. Banks
Today marks a sad day for those in Boston and for the nation.
For those of us who have spent decades working on human rights—whatever our political leanings—Senator Kennedy was an institution. We always knew where he stood. We could always count on his office to take on the tough request, to tackle the thorniest issues, to champion the most controversial issue. As one of the few organizations to express concern about the invasion of Iraq and the humanitarian catastrophe that followed, we were strengthened by Senator Kennedy’s leadership on this issue.
Just writing a personal note today to convey our deepest sympathies to the Refugees International staff at the loss of their president Ken Bacon.
I recently joined Ken for a meeting with Richard Holbrooke where Ken spoke with his characteristic passion and conviction about the importance of development aid that is designed for and with the same people who will benefit from the aid. At the time we spoke briefly about his illness, his smile and humor masked what was a much more serious prognosis.
It’s been great having Ken as a colleague and friend in our field for these last years. I have always felt that we could count on Ken and RI to take courageous stands and do it with grace, sophistication and yet toughness. We have appreciated those moments when it has been possible to collaborate on an op-ed or a high level meeting. Ken has always made the inter-institutional collaboration a pure pleasure.
I was delighted and touched to hear the wonderful eulogy that Scott Simon did this Saturday on Weekend Edition. It summed up Ken’s life beautifully. And his message and farewell to all of us was vintage Ken. We all, particularly those of us in the humanitarian field, need to take his message of hope and carry it with us close to our hearts every day.
We will all miss Ken’s presence, his generosity of spirit, and his commitment to the values that we seek to represent every day.
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