on tuesday night, i watched the movie beyond borders which we had from netflix. i actually used to own the movie and lost it somewhere along the way (i think it ended up being left behind at the abbey in pontlevoy). at any rate, i can honestly say that it is one of my favorite movies ever made. it touches me beyond words; i was literally crying throughout the movie. i know exactly how angelina feels when she is at the charity ball and clive owen bursts in with the ethiopian boy. he starts talking about life in the western world, about champagne, and dancing, and the wastefulness of it all... all while the ethiopian boy he has brought lives on less than 300 calories a day. she breaks out in tears and the next thing you know, she is in africa bringing medical supplies and food - and ends up working for the united nations refugee agency (UNHCR).
you probably all know that during college and after graduation, i had longed for a career in diplomacy, international relations or international development. after a failed attempt at a state department internship in bangkok in 2003, i applied for the peace corps. i was halfway through the application process (about to get my medical exam) when i got the offer to go work in france. and we all know that's where i met chad and went to new zealand and ended up in the wine industry.
i love working in this industry, don't get me wrong. wine people are very passionate about what they do - not only that, but they are just plain fun. the wine we make is really beautiful and i certainly enjoy drinking it. wine bonds people and is part of some very memorable social experiences. it sparks conversation, it speaks to its home, it comes in many different forms, it is wrapped up in cultures all over the globe - in much the same way as cuisine. oh, and my office looks out on a vineyard. seriously. it's a beautiful place to be.
that said, over the last nearly six years in the industry, i have really struggled to come to grips with what i do. when it comes down to it, i'm not helping anyone. what i'm doing is promoting a product that is a discretionary expense. i deal with people with too much money and too many coture clothes for their own good. winemaking is farming and fermenting fruit. however, people make it out to be much more important than it actually is. i help sell $75 bottles of wine when what i really want to do - if i'm completely 100% honest - is send that $75 to the UNHCR for refugees. i mean, really, there are 10.5 MILLION refugees in the world right now. can you imagine being uprooted from your home, never able to return due to war, civil unrest, persecution or otherwise...? walking for days upon days just to get to some help, facing wild animals, crazy guys with machine guns, rape, murder, torture along the way? that really puts things into perspective, doesn't it? watch the movie hotel rwanda if you want to see it in full moving color. the quote "you're black. not only are you black, but you're african" makes me, in a word, sad.
today i came across the blog of photographer joni kabana who is from here in oregon. she recently spent some time in ethiopia documenting maternal medical projects. i had no idea that something like fistulas even existed. the fact that joni met an 8-year-old girl with one because she had been sodomized just makes me completely disgusted by what horrible things one human being can inflict on another. even more than that, the fact that women in the developing world walk for days to get to these clinics is astonishing. many of them are turned away because there is so much need for help and there are so few doctors. one of the things joni talked about was the pain of turning someone away when you knew their need was just as great as the person you chose to help. how do you decide who gets helped and who doesn't?
i want to donate to global soul international. i want to help. i want to buy that nikon d90 and learn every nook and cranny so i can help tell stories like the stories of these women in ethiopia or the stories of the refugees that unhcr helps on a daily basis. i want to travel abroad and volunteer. i just can't shake that need to help, even when sitting here in my air conditioned office looking out on the vineyard and drinking my readily available cold and clean water. for now, i donate. then i learn. then i travel.
watch this space. and in the meantime, donate to UNHCR, global soul international, or one of the many hundreds of aid organizations that exist, if you can. even $15 helps.
p.s. the thing i'm grateful for today is technology. without it, stories like those joni heard in ethiopia wouldn't get told as easily or to as many people.
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