I believe we accomplish anything we set our mind to. We all start out the same at birth. That is naked. What happens then? A pessimist will comment: “But some of us are born with a silver spoon.”
Yes, but what do they do with that silver spoon in their life? What if they give up at a certain point in life, when they encounter difficulties? Well, I answer they have by their side to support them, “those who never give up in face of adversity.”
Seek out those people.
Never give up on yourself or on anyone else.
Installing water filters in Haiti
Helping communities around the world. Help and inspire others today for a better tomorrow.
Nominate a man or a woman who has inspired you for the brand new “Inspiring Communities ” series on EW Emma’s Writings.
Installing water filters in Haiti
Inspiring communities
Note: Tthe Inspiring Communities series features men and women who inspire us in our communities to help other people achieve well-being in an increasingly complex world. Nominate a person who has inspired you.
Local businessman helps install water filters on Haiti, where water is the
Elixir of life
By Emma Palova
EW Emma’s Writings
Lowell, MI- At the best, a running water system on the forgotten island of La Gonave off Haiti consists of a cistern tipped upside down with a hose that leads through the window inside a hut.
However, most often you will see a container full of dirty rain water known as the municipal well. The villagers haul water in buckets on donkeys or on their heads.
Usually when tested, the water is full of coliform bacteria, which causes cholera, according to Lowell resident and business owner Evert Bek.
Bek was part of a team that installed water filters in Haiti at the beginning of March. The project was spearheaded by the Lowell Rotary Club.
“There is no running water on the island,” said Evert. “There is no electricity, no bathrooms, people live in huts. They use rainwater collected in cisterns.”
The team installed 80 water filters which are cones filled with sand and stones from the local sources. Each dwelling paid 35 cents per water filter.
It takes 10 gallons of water to get the filters started before using as safe water supply, according to Bek.
Bek was astonished at the living conditions on Haiti, located only 709 miles from Miami. Most recently, Haiti was hit by hurricane Matthew on Oct. 4, 2016, and the country still suffers in the aftermath of the devastating earthquake in 2010.
A typical dwelling is made of cement, it has a dirt floor, one room. And it accommodates anywhere from two to 10 people.
During the week-long stay, Evert said, he only saw meals cooking outside twice.
“One day we had beans and rice, the next day we had rice and beans,” he said. “The laundry is done outside by hand.”
Usually, the huts are scattered all around with a church as the center point. The team stayed in the village of Pikmi.
“We had to have a translator,” said Bek.
The island, which has no industry, was conquered by the French in the 1600s. The official language is Creole, which is a French African dialect.Their guide and translator was a self-taught man, who called himself Day Day. People use small motorcycles as transportation, but they mainly walk. It is not uncommon to see three to four people riding a motorcycle.Old pick-up trucks are left wherever, when they stop working.
The land is just clay and rock, because the top soil eroded as the forests were harvested unlike in the neighboring Dominican Republic.
“The island sits on a bare rock,” said Evert.
Approximately 100,000 people live on 287 square miles.
Weekly, there is a village market, where animals are traded. Charcoal on the island is used as a cooking fuel. However, there are no tools to fix anything.
In contrast to the overall living conditions, the population wears discarded t-shirts bearing losing sports teams’ logos, peddled by different organizations from the USA.
Kids and adults walk around with non-working phones.
“It’s a status symbol,” said Evert. “There is a lot of corruption in the country, you got to be ready to get your valet out to get anything done.”
Churches have done a lot of work on the island in schools and education. Kids go to schools in uniforms, and there are orphanages in good condition.
According to Evert, the big unknown remains the economy on the island even once the water problem is solved.
“You have water and then what?” he said.
There are a lot of unfinished houses on the island due to lack of materials and finances, and corruption.
A typical banker sits outside with a duffle bag of money on the corner of gravel streets. He holds dollars in one hand and Haitian Gourdes in the other hand.
If you go into a “store,” you will not get any change back.
“I learned the hard way,” laughed Bek.
The team stayed in a guest house with water and kitchen, leased through an organization based in Saranac.
“I like to help out,” he said. “Be grateful for what you have.”
Featured photo is of a Wednesday market on the Haitian island of La Gonave.
If you want to help contact your local organizations. This water filter installing project was through the Lowell Rotary club at http://www.lowellrotary.og
This post was also written as a response to the Daily Post prompt @elixir
Elixir
For more info on Haiti go to: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haiti
Copyright (c) 2017. Emma Blogs, LLC. All rights reserved.
END
Taurus Daily horoscope for March 29, 2017
The day is young. I am still contemplating its course.
You can arrive at a more accurate conclusion on your own than with the help of others today. You have an idea up your sleeve that’s beginning to take shape, but you’re inclined to keep it close to the …
A Taurus spring day
https://www.tarot.com/daily-horoscope/taurus/2017-03-29
Say No. Say Goodbye. Say Wait… You Have That Right
Always listen to your gut feelings. They are here to protect us from being hurt much like fear. Don’t ignore these.
Today’s Challenge: Say no. Say goodbye. Say wait… You have that right. Listen to your gut.
No ordinary Friday
Not just another Friday
This post is also in response to the Daily Post prompt “Ordinary” at
Ordinary
By Emma Palova
EW Emma’s Writings
Lowell, MI -Today is definitely not an ordinary day. It’s not an ordinary Friday in the year 2017. It hasn’t been an ordinary week in mid-March.
Even though it’s a gray day in West Michigan, we have moved forward in time since we hit the Spring Equinox on Monday, March 20. Our energies and vibrations have been shifting with everything new, including new beginnings. To our great enjoyment, we’ve seen new life coming out of the hard ground after the long winter months.
Sadly, we’ve witnessed the tragedy with the London attacks on Wednesday.
And the House is still expected to vote later in the afternoon on a bill to repeal Obamacare, a vote postponed from yesterday. The vote will affect most people living in the USA. So far, the reports of the repeal are not good for President Donald Trump, according to major news media.
As such, this Friday has been the culmination of many precipitating events, both internationally, locally and personally. Mr. Trump much like the majority of the Republican Party have been using the repeal of Obamacare as their staple agenda that secured the victory in the presidential election.
If I quickly look at the social media buzz, I see an overwhelming relief that we’ve made it to Friday with a quote from Goodreads for March 24, 2017 from Tennessee Williams:
“I’ve got the guts to die. What I want to know is, have you got the guts to live?”
The quote is from Williams’ play “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.”
Currently, we could say the entire GOP is sitting on its own “hot tin roof.”
But, that could also be true for any of us, because whatever we are sitting or standing on changes from day to day. This change makes every day special.
The greater Lowell community has been working toward its annual Lowell Community Expo that takes place tomorrow, March 25th, for the entire year. So, have the individual participating organizations and vendors.
Don’t forget to stop by at the Fallasburg Historical Society booth 129 in the Cafe of the Lowell High School tomorrow.
I have resolved some of my not-so-ordinary issues this week, as well.
A flaky relationship that has been running on burnt fuel of the past came to an end also on Wednesday to my great relief after days of struggling, aka “sitting on a hot tin roof.”
On a very positive note, I observed the five months anniversary of my new life this week. I continue my work on the “Greenwich Meridian” memoir © 2017 copyright Emma Palova. I have given an extraordinary push to the new app in the works.
There is no such thing as an ordinary day in the life of any of us.
Make every day a special day.
For more info about the Lowell Expo go to http://www.lowellexpo.org
Check out daily quotes on Goodreads at goodreads.com
For Fallasburg info go to http://fallasburgtoday.org or http://www.fallasburg.org
Copyright © 2017. Emma Blogs, LLC. All rights reserved
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First day of spring
Reigning in the spring equinox energy
By Emma Palova
EW Emma’s Writings
Lowell, MI- The first day of spring means new beginnings to me after the long winter. And even though everything is yellowish brown outside, I have a vision of everything turning green soon.
As I drove to a meeting this afternoon, there were still tree limbs on the sides of the road, remnants of the last winter storms with high winds.
However, by the parking lot, I found some new green stems pushing out of the hard ground. Also some trees are starting to show tiny buds and the willows branches have a sharp yellow color.
My friends at the meeting said they were excited about the afternoon because they would be outside picking sticks from their yards.
“Yes, picking sticks sounds good,” T.G. laughed. “I also have a great spring report.”
I couldn’t agree more. After long months of being trapped inside, anything outdoors sounds good.
T.G.’s spring report turned great as well. You can see it in the feature photo. T.G. has a beef cattle breeding farm. And with it spring brings calves, new life. The pictured black Angus cow just gave birth on the first day of spring to the calf by her out in the pastures.
According to T.G., this breed of cows, always gives birth to calves outside, not in the stables.
Annually, I take an inventory of the past winter and the toll it has taken on life. Some of our dearest have not survived the winter. We have lost my dad’s last living sibling, Aunt Marta. She passed away on January 7, 2017 in Stipa, Czech Republic. In February, we lost our first neighbor on Downes Street, whom we met, when we moved out into the country in 1995. That was Allegonda (Connie) Kazemier, born in the Netherlands.
The Lowell community lost a great artist, Jan Johnson, who has inspired generations of artists in the Greater Grand Rapids area.
But, I also look at the positives that have come out of this winter’s hibernation.
Winter gives me an opportunity to focus on some things that go unnoticed during the pretty live seasons of spring, summer and fall.
This may include projects that I have been procrastinating in finishing. Most of them have much to do with writing, and the development of writing projects.
But, this time I’d like to write about personal development, and by this I don’t mean weight loss or other personal gains and losses.
Over the winter, I’ve changed a lot of things in my lifestyle. I still suffer from insomnia, so I use the early morning hours to meditate and to organize my thoughts.
This gives me sort of head start into the new day. I like to go through daily readings in the morning before I start writing. It’s still dark outside, and I can only hear the fan by the wood stove humming. Sometimes, I see the Big Dipper in the northeast corner of my studio view.
I am not as dead set on goals as I used to be. As long as I get through some piles on my desk, and see sentences materialize in front of me.
I enjoy discovering new blogs. I find them a constant source of inspiration, and support. I found support in the Daily Post prompt @luck last Friday on St. Pat’s Day. As I browsed other blogs, I came across “My Invisible Illnesses.” The author among other things writes about fibromyalgia, a mysterious condition, that some docs laugh at.
Over the winter, I’ve learned to nurture my love for art so I can share it with others.
I’ve gained new appreciation for our Konecny family roots in the Konecny Saga, and I am working on how to share this so others can do their research as well.
I immerse myself in arts for reprieve and inspiration.
I still like to develop new projects on top of unfinished ones. I know it’s a no no, but I usually get back to the unfinished stuff as well.
I have discovered that the energy behind different projects keeps changing. Sometimes it rekindles old feelings, and gives them new light.
With spring I like to refocus and reign in some of that spring equinox energy. The warm sun is doing wonders on the mind and the spirit, as I pull tight jeans over the body.
I’ve increased the spiritual awareness of being and existence with the help of many of my spiritualist friends. I will dedicate a separate chapter to them, as I credit them with a lot of my improved health-being.
I am looking forward to this spring with a new set of eyes of appreciation and gratitude for simply being.
I dedicate this Spring Equinox Energy post to my son Jakub Pala.
“We did it,” said Josephine Marie Palova, at the end of a week-long babysitting sting in Hastings.
Yes, we did it. We made it through winter stronger.
Copyright © 2017. Emma Blogs, LLC. All rights reserved.
Feast of Saints Joseph & Josephine
The Feast of Saints Joseph and Josephine is a big day for our family. There were so many men named after Saint Joseph in our family, that I would not be able to count them on the fingers of my two hands.
My business mentor and guru grandpa Drabek from Vizovice, was Joseph. My countless uncles were Josephs and so was my late father-in-law, Mr. Joseph Pala from Stipa, Zlin.
.But there is only one Josephine. And that is our granddaughter Josephine Marie Palova,3.
Happy name day Josephine.
To be exact now we know two Josephines.Happy name day also to Josephine Emmette, who had her baby shower today at Saint Patrick’s in Parnell.
Congratulations Cheryl & Dave Emmette.
The Feast of Saint Joseph is big celebration in most European countries. Let’s wish them all well.
See Wikipedia at
St Joseph’s Day – Wikipedia
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Joseph’s_Day
Saint Joseph’s Day, March 19, the Feast of Saint Joseph is in Western Christianity the principal feast day of Saint Joseph, husband of the Blessed Virgin Mary. He is the foster-father of Jesus Christ.
Copyright (c) 2017 Emma Blogs, LLC. All rights reserved.
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