"Workers packed recycled plastic for later use in road pavement in Bangalore."

Today’s wave of technology fascinates me, especially when it is developed to help reuse or recycle materials which otherwise negatively impact the environment. Take plastic for example, companies already make fleece out of soda pop bottles, but what about bigger scale projects? While it is true that we always need to concentrate on reducing our consumption and limiting our use of non-renewable resources, there is also a point where products like plastic bottles and bags are never going to totally go away. So why not focus on reusing/recycling the ones that still exist? Across the world two businessmen have thought of a way to use large-scale plastic waste to pave roads, making streets in India more durable against natural disasters and severe weather conditions. Check out the full story here.

~Lana

Last night a winter storm knocked the power out at my home, and I began to think about things…

• As I pulled out my wind-up flashlight I began to think about renewable resources. If I can power my flashlight (and keep reading my book) with the simple turn of my wrist, what else can I power that easily?
• Luckily the outage started in the evening and was fixed by morning, a couple of years ago the area experienced a storm which caused power outages for a week. What if I didn’t have a cold refrigerator to keep food in? How would that change what I ate and how much time I spent getting and making food?
• The rain poured and the wind howled but the water treatment plants were okay. Sometimes, however, in the really bad storms the water systems get tainted and we either have to boil water or use bottled water for a few days. We often have a supply of clean water in the garage for just such instances. What if we always had to boil water? What if we didn’t have any access to clean water storage?
• I did enjoy making cinnamon toast on the wood stove in my living room, I felt a little bit like a pioneer. I began to think, however, about my brothers and sisters in Christ around the world who cook every meal over the fire and also use this as their only form of heat.

In this winter storm I realized how lucky I am to have a roof, central heating, refrigeration and clean water. It also makes me think more about what I can do for others – like giving regularly, learning about renewable energy, being a good steward of creation’s resources and advocating for important justice issues. God works in mysterious ways – even through power outages.

~ Lana

p.s. For those of you who read last week’s Foodball blog, you’ll be happy to know that the competition raised over 989,000 pounds of food this year!

There’s a competition in the small town where I grew up called Foodball. It’s an 11 day all-out contest between two high schools to see who can raise the most food and money for local food banks. The contest however, is not just fueled by goodwill, but largely by the rivalry which surrounds the competition. Steeped in over 100 years of competition on the athletic playing fields, our two neighboring one-high school towns are bathed in school pride. When it comes to Foodball that pride feeds a lot of people. I remember in high school, while out on our one-day door-to-door neighborhood blitz, an old-timer asked me (right before he donated some money) whether or not the Bobcats were going to win this year. In this case, raising the most amount of food is a matter of pride. How much food? Historically, enough to run the local food banks for about nine months of the year – quite a feat in 11 days.

Well, it’s Foodball time again and every time I walk into a local store there are high school kids asking for donations and little donation bins on every coffee shop and ice cream store counter. Yesterday, however, I got a glimpse of why we really do this and who it helps.

After a nice lunch with my brother at a downtown cafe we decided to go on an afternoon walk. My brother is a designer and up in the older neighborhoods of my one-high school town, both tucked in corners and standing resolute on the side of the main street, are beautiful old homes. As reminders of our past, I often refer to a group of them as the timber mansions – built by wealthy timber barons in our earlier glory days. Around them are brilliant little craftsman homes and once noble tudors. On our way out of the neighborhoods we passed the local Lutheran church and the high school, right before we reached the museum. On the other side of the road from the museum sits a local food bank. No doubt a recipient of the funds raised by the high school kids just blocks away. Outside of the food bank during the mid-afternoon I saw people stopping by to pick up their nourishments; a mother with a little girl who was holding a doll, parents with a baby seat, older men in logging attire chatting next to their vehicles and a nice-looking young man who drove up in a newer foreign car. On my little architectural walk I was blessed to see the faces of Foodball – the people all of that rivalry and friendly competition actually benefits. Normal people, just trying to make ends meet. I hope my Alma Mater wins this year, but I know that either way it’s those faces that I saw yesterday who really matter.

~ Lana

As I watched the TED talk “A Third Way to Think About Aid” by Jacqueline Novogratz I began to think about ELCA World Hunger’s work with Companion Synods and partner organizations. According to the “talk” it seems that our work is heading in the right direction. We support microcredit lending opportunities and value relationships with the Lutheran World Federation and ELCA Global Mission as we work as partners with churches around the world to address solutions to hunger and poverty. The key to these partnerships is that we are able to address the real issues – those voiced straight from the communities in which we work.

As the video goes on it looks further into how the idea of a “partnership” can continue to be tuned in the 21^st century. It begins to look toward increasing the use and spread of technologies in places where their abilities would be incredibly beneficial, yet are currently little known. I like the idea of moving forward with an eye toward smarter irrigation, farming, energy systems and clean water supplies. Perhaps we should continue to innovate even our tagline…as “God’s Work. Our Hands.” looks at the gifts we have received – ideas, creativity and hope – and the ways that technology can transform them – solar power, drip irrigation in the desert and all those ideas that are just waiting to be uncovered.

Enjoy the video!

~Lana

During my last trip to Europe I really started thinking about the food, exercise and time usage differences between Americans and Western Europeans (in general). I don’t claim to be a nutritionist, sociologist or expert in really any field, just a regular person with an interest in healthy lifestyles. Based on food, exercise and time, here is what I have observed…

Food

• Healthy Food versus Nutritious Food

I have noticed that in US grocery stores we have lots of food that says “low fat”, “low calorie”, “no sugar”, etc. and we buy it because we think that it’s healthy. What I have found is that when I look at the ingredients in these foods I often put them back on the shelf and grab the normal ones. What I noticed in Europe was that it is so much more common to grab the normal one. Not only that, in the dairy section, American cheese singles are nearly impossible to find, instead you’re surrounded by real cheeses – the kind that I always grew up thinking were fancy, buy my boyfriend eats them for breakfast. This made me think about my time in Sweden and all the Europeans in my International House.  What I remember is real food and real meals…

• Meals versus Microwaves

Sure I saw microwaves in Europe and absolutely people use them, but what I found fascinating was the level of food quality that my fellow twenty-somethings were preparing. I lived in a dorm with about five kitchens and 100 people. As you might imagine, meal times were crazy! As one of two Americans in the house, my fellow American friend and I expected macaroni and lots of pizza. We were so surprised when we saw the beautiful and wonderful smelling meals that came out of the oven and off of the stove at every meal. I had friends who grocery shopped every day so that they could have fresh vegetables. We Americans had to step up our cooking – we emailed our moms for our favorite recipes from home.

• What is Fast Food?

In Belgium I had this realization: it’s not that people don’t eat fast food, I saw a busy McDonald’s whenever I went into town, what is more common however, is a different type of fast food. Bread shops which whip up cheese and meat baguette sandwiches in a minute, fry shops (well, those can’t be good for you) and kebabs on every corner. What’s different? No drive-thru windows. Imagine if we walked to McDonald’s whenever we ate it? And even more, if we decided to go to the scrumptious bread shop instead.

Exercise

• What is different about our daily 30 minutes of exercise?

After living in the Los Angeles suburbs for four years and Chicago for a summer, I have gotten used to lots of gyms all around. I had this realization during my last trip abroad…where are all the gyms? I know that people go to them, I had friends in Sweden who went daily, but the air around the idea was different. Instead of going to the gym for your daily dose of exercise, the gym was the place you went for that bit of extra. Toning, lifting, etc. because your daily exercise was riding your bike to class or walking to a friend’s apartment, it was walking to the town centre or playing soccer at the park with your buddies. Exercise had a whole different mentality around it – it was simply part of everyday life. And the interesting thing was how much difference that daily portion did make.

Time

• Vacations and Work

While every country is different, there are a couple of things that I noticed abroad. Swedes take the end of the work day seriously. They work really hard during the day and then go home and tune into their families. Their work/family line is quite clear.  Also, even the hardest working Europeans take time to go on vacation, and this reminds me that God built vacation into the world, the Sabbath.

• That Little Unknown…Le Je Ne Sais Quoi

The other thing that I continually notice is that when I return to American soil I feel stress right away. (Not because I just came back from vacation – the majority of my time abroad has been study experiences or I have been working remotely.) The US is a fast-paced and intense culture, and that’s okay. I just remember to walk places when I can, eat real food, and give myself a Sabbath.

The point of this blog is not to make one way better than another, but simply to put out there some observations that I have made during my journeys. As a young woman I have realized that simple changes make big differences. Things like bicycling instead of driving, eating foods with real ingredients, and taking time for myself make me feel so different. Every time I am in a new culture I try to pick out things to learn (even within the US!) and these are my findings. I hope that you will find them interesting too, and that they will help you to think about experiences that you have had, and ways to make your life healthier, happier and more wholistic.

Cheers,

Lana

Last Tuesday’s Facebook TueSpot generated some great replies. What about? Songs that make a statement for CHANGE. As a blog reader, I’d like to share these clips of musical inspiration with you too! From 1980’s favorites that will never die to current European indie/pop stars and our favorite pew-side hymns, it seems that we can find a little inspiration wherever we look. As we head into the holiday season, a time where change is all around and love abounds, it seems that a bit of cheer is in order. Here’s a list of our ELCA World Hunger Facebook Cause members’ favorite notes that inspire change.

(listen @ www.YouTube.com)

1. On The Turning Away by Pink Floyd

2. Do They Know It’s Christmas by Band Aid

3. Praise and Thanksgiving by Albert F. Bayly (hymn #689 ELW or #409 LBW)

4. Yell Fire by Michael Franti

5. Have a Little Faith by Michael Franti

6. Womanizer Cover by Timid Tiger

7. …Add your favorite song that makes a statement for change in the comment section below!

Cheers,

Lana

p.s. Help us win $500 – $50,000 for hunger and poverty relief through America’s Giving Challenge by donating to ELCA World Hunger between now and November 6^th – donations only count toward the Challenge when processed at www.causes.com/elcaworldhunger.  Even more, donate this Friday, October 16^th and be a part of our 1-day Call to Action – ELCA World Hunger could win $1000 in one day! The Cause which receives the most individual donations wins – it’s about lots of people, not lots of money.

I recently discovered an intriguing BBC report on Iceland. The report is about how the financial crisis has affected the food that Icelanders eat, but instead of turning to cheap fast food or low-cost-low-quality grocery shelves, they have turned back in time. This story provides a fascinating look into our relationship with food.

As an island, food imports are quite expensive, so Iceland has turned to home-grown goods, much of which means dishes that adults remember from their grandparents, dishes from Iceland’s history. In the report they talk about how the nutrition of the food is high (and it sure sounds hearty), and how buying “Icelandic” has become trendy. The report also highlights some of the cons of what returning to tradition means as it addresses international whaling concerns, and finally highlights the harnessing of the island’s natural resources to grow fruits and vegetables in greenhouses.

Personally, as the great-granddaughter of Nordic immigrants, I began to think of the food that I ate growing up, including recipes passed down from generations. Meat and potatoes are still a staple at my parents house, and with farms a few miles down the road offering organic beef and local potatoes, the cost of transport and sale is much lower – making me think about how simple, hearty, traditional dishes can be both better for the environment and cheaper to consume at the same time. When I think about other recipes of tradition, particularly scrumptious baked goods, I also realize how simple their ingredients can be. Perhaps Iceland’s return to traditional foods could serve as a little wake up call for the rest of us.

What fruits, vegetables, meats or grains are local to you? What are traditional dishes in your part of the country? As we begin to come out of this financial crisis, let us not forget its lessons…even if we learn them from half a world away.

~Lana

Listen to the  BBC report here.

As I sit next to a window in Gent, Belgium, looking outside at the swaying trees and bicycle-filled back patios, I am thinking about languages. Last night I went to a dinner party where I was the only native English speaker. The party, filled with lovely people who were very kind, still only seemed half accessible to me. This, however, got me thinking about universal languages.

In music classes growing up I learned Latin, Italian and French terms without thinking. “Forte” and “fermata” could just as easily have been English in my mind, but they aren’t. Music, however, is universal and what is beautiful about that is the idea that musicians from around the world can come and sit together in a symphony, and without any words at all, they can speak to the audience. Through tones, phrases and beats they can communicate incredible joy, deep sorrow and expressions of greatest hope. That is the power of a universal language, the language of music. Some other universal languages that occur to me include art and nature.

But then there is another, a language so powerful that it brings nations together and pulls at our heartstrings. It is a language so global that we cannot keep ourselves from its imminence. It is the grumble of a stomach – the language of hunger. We have all felt hunger, that pang in our middle when we forget to eat lunch amidst our busy schedule, or the urge in our insides to refill the calories that we burned at soccer practice. Some of us, however, feel this hunger every day, and some of us may not even know what it is like to feel full. I believe that it is this universal language of hunger that keeps us working for a new day – it keeps donors writing checks and you reading this blog. It keeps staff members tuned into their projects and partner organizations in communication. It reminds us in a very real and physical way what it means to support the ELCA World Hunger program, what it feels like to be hungry, and encourages us to begin spreading a new universal language – the full stomach.

Spread a new language today.
Donate. Educate. Advocate.

-Lana Lile

Last Autumn I had the opportunity to study for a semester in Sweden. Looking to fill some requirements for my International Studies major back home I signed up for the course Global Health. At the time, it slipped my mind that Sweden is known for this kind of study and research. As I sat amongst students from Sweden, Poland, the Netherlands, South Korea and Zambia who were studying subjects which ranged from nursing to psychology, I realized that I was in for an eye-opening semester. As you read, please keep in mind that all of the facts are already a year old, but their significance is no less impactful. This blog is a very short snippet of all that I learned in that class; below are the concepts and figures that moved and surprised me the most.

Excerpts from my final paper:

• “I was also struck by a statement which one of the presenters recalled from one of the older Zambian women, ‘When the white men came we saw that we were poor.’ I believe that we have as much to learn from struggling peoples as they have to learn from us, they are rich in other aspects of life.”

• “I also found it fascinating when Mr. Almroth talked about how children need love, and when their parents die they are more likely to get sick as well. It’s amazing how something so simple can have such deep and compounding impact. It’s hard to realize how much that love is taken for granted in developed countries where health is expected and sickness can be treated.”

• “Additionally, the knowledge that female literacy is most directly connected to child mortality, and that fifty percent of all child deaths could be prevented through female literacy surprised me.”

• “Education empowers women, gives children more access to healthcare, encourages micro-loan systems, informs about water sanitation and improves infant survival through breast feeding.”

• “I was finally incredibly relieved to hear Mr. Almroth talk about the fear of over-population. I admit that I was one of those people who are often conflicted by compassion for people in need and scientific numbers of over-population. Hearing that increased child survival has always lead to less pregnancy was all I needed to hear for my fears to be quickly relieved and my compassion to take over!”

• “I was encouraged to think about AIDS as a result of poverty, not necessarily a lack of knowledge. This cuts at the basic human need to survive, and when people see no way to make money, they turn to dangerous practices to survive. When it is knowledge vs. necessity, necessity always wins.”

• “Standing at twice the African regional average, 150 out of 100,000 people in Zambia are infected with tuberculosis. Of those infected, over half are co-infected with HIV/AIDS. Zambia is currently working to improve lab facilities, increase community awareness, expand public-private partnerships (such as support groups who visit patients,) increase printed and circulated materials and conduct training of health workers.”

• “One very cool way of disease education that Zambia has implemented is grounded in schools. Each year on World AIDS Day and World Malaria Day formal debates are held between students in schools to increase awareness of the disease crises.”

• “Every year 7.5 million women and babies die unnecessarily due to pregnancy-related causes, NOT disease. This is 50% more people than AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis combined! In poor nations around the world poverty causes death in heart-wrenching ways because the cure is both known and attainable. On one side of the problem lies a lack of funding for pregnancy care and neonatal mortality prevention and the shift of educated doctors from rural Africa to lucrative Europe. On the other side of the problem lies hope. The greatest resource that Africa needs to improve the maternal health situation is educated midwives. Additionally, the country of Mozambique is leading the way by training ‘non-physician clinicians’ to perform cesarean sections, obstetric hysterectomies, laparotomies and other life-saving emergency obstetric care. These clinicians also exist in rural Malawi and Tanzania, creating an incredible resource where doctoral care is limited or non-existent…Cures and preventative methods are known, available and common; proper funding, education and trained professionals are what the world is waiting for.”

Thanks to lecturers Almroth, Berggren, Halling and Bergström.

It’s incredible how things go by so quickly…like this internship! I have enjoyed so much the opportunity to tell the story of ELCA World Hunger this summer. It has been fun to constantly work to be “in the know” about issues of hunger and poverty. From creating spaces for high school youth to engage in social justice at the ELCA Youth Gathering in New Orleans to site visits for organizations who receive our domestic hunger grants it has been a busy and full summer. I have really enjoyed keeping everyone up-to-date on our Facebook Cause and have been excited each Monday when I record how many more members or donations have come in to support the work of ELCA World Hunger. It’s amazing to learn what just ten dollars can do, and then see someone donate ten dollars and realize that we can now give a family a small flock of chicks or provide a week of meals to a child orphaned by AIDS.

Sometimes the other interns and I will watch a new documentary or read a surprising statistic and claim that we have become “corrupted”…but in a good way. Bottled water all of a sudden looks like landfills in the middle of the ocean or streams drying up in Michigan, and at the grocery store I check to make sure my chicken is organic and not fed antibiotics. Yvon Chouinard, founder of the outdoor clothing company Patagonia once said, “The more you know the less you need,” and as this summer rolls to an end I find myself seeking to know more while doing my best to consume less.

Above all, the most important thing that I have learned from my experience this summer is that we are all just people. Sure, some of my colleagues have doctoral degrees or years of social justice experience. Others have cried with victims of Hurricane Katrina or eaten dinner with their fellow Malawian Lutherans across the world, and still others meet with Congressmen and women on Capitol Hill, but the most common and important thread between the people who work for ELCA World Hunger, and Church in Society as a whole, is love for their neighbor. We are all just people, we are all just trying to do the right thing – make life a little better for those in need. And together, we believe we can.

Micah 6:8 –
He has showed you, O mortal, what is good.
And what does the LORD require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
and to walk humbly with your God.

In the Spirit,
Lana Lile