The 4 letter word (most) North American's shy away from

P.O.O.P. That's right, I said it! Poop.

Recently, I received an email from someone in the U.S (based out of Seattle) who is trying to set up a small team to start an organization which aims at bringing new light to past issues through visual design. The person who contact me found me through my blog while searching the internet for blogs and people who have been talking about sanitation issues. He sent me the link to his visual design and as soon as I started reading it, I knew I had to share it.

It's so true that most North American's shy away from talking about poop, why is that? While I still haven't discovered the answer, what I have found out is that when you live and work overseas the poop "shyness" disappears! Over the past year a half of working in Africa, I've had many a conversations with expats and volunteers whom I've literally just met and suddenly I find the conversation shifting to poop. My favourite poop conversation begins with "I had a solid one today." This is because, if you've lived overseas before, you know this rarely happens due to change in diet and lifestyle.

I've come to realize that it's "healthy" to talk about poop and rather encouraged, thus ensuring that everyone is and stays "healthy." However, after you read the graphic below you will find that 40% of the world's population is unhealthy due to poop because of the lack of toilets and proper hygiene thus, leaving people to defecate (ie "poop") in the open.

Anyway, enough of the talk, here is the graphic on poop that I was given. Enjoy and most importantly...DISCUSS :)

Here is the link to share with others: http://www.onlinenursingprograms.com/lack-of-sanitation/

 
Created by: OnlineNursingPrograms.com

Life's weird "Coincidences"?

Besides truly enjoying the work that I do, I think the thing I love most is forging new friendships on a work and personal level. With that being said, leaving these friendships behind is one of the toughest aspects of living and working overseas. In Zanzibar, I feel like I have just begun to establish a strong network of friends, both local and expat, and it is really sad when someone’s contract comes to an end and you have to say your goodbyes. Don’t get me wrong I miss my family in friends in Toronto but my return ticket home guarantees that I will soon see them all again. What is not guaranteed is being able to see all the wonderful people I’ve become close with and worked with on this beautiful continent.

However, life is full of weird coincidences...or do these “coincidences” happen for a reason? I am still trying to decide! So perhaps if I am meant to meet my overseas friends again in the future, there is a good reason behind the coincidence. From working in International Development and having the opportunity to travel a lot, I have come to realize that the world is not as big as we think it is! Here are some my life’s weird coincidences thus far:

• In OAC I wanted to be an optometrist and then found out that I was terrible in advanced math so I changed all of my university applications to “Social Sciences.” Ottawa U asked me to specify and at the time I was taking a Global Issues course that I enjoyed so I chose International Development as my major. (it’s weird to think what my life would look like now if I was good at math!)
• After my courses at Kenyatta University ended in May 2007, I went on a safari in Kenya and Tanzania and met a Canadian girl, whom I did not know before the trip. In 2009 I was serving at Fionn MacCool’s on The Esplanade in Toronto and ended up serving the girl I met half way across the world.
• In June 2007, when I was getting ready to depart Zanzibar, I never would have thought that I would be back 4 years later, and in fact celebrating my birthday in the exact same spot in Nungwi, North Zanzibar.
• In February of this year I was close to having the opportunity to go back to Ghana for work. However, I was instead offered my current job in Zanzibar where I have finally figured my future career path in Monitoring and Evaluation.
• Last month I met up with a friend whom I studied with at University of Ottawa and traveled with to Nairobi in 2007 to finish our degrees at Kenyatta University. I had not seen this friend since we finished the program at KU 4 years ago, he is currently working in Arusha, Tanzania.
• Last week I received 2 random emails which turned out to be 2 great finds!

1.       A Canadian girl working in Stone Town. She found me from an email list serve and asked if I would like to meet up. Of course I said yes, turns out she is from Toronto so we have bonded over missing Toronto’s amazing food and a love for red wine and dancing!    –Sorry Ali, I have only replaced you temporarily!

2.      A Canadian girl from University of Ottawa who was given my email address from an old professor. She just finished the KU program that I did 4 years ago and is now in Stone Town traveling. We met up to discuss possible volunteer opportunities for the week that she is in town, now she is renting our spare room and teaching English with New Vision Class.

The realization of my life’s coincidences is what prompted me to write this blog. I know there are others that I am forgetting, but for now these are the major ones. I suppose this will also be an ongoing list!