World AIDS Day 2010!

Today is World AIDS Day! While we have seen much success over the past decade, still millions more need treatment and assistance. We at The Acacia Tree encourage you to continue your education concerning HIV/AIDS. Learn how you can help save these lives through treatment, and how you can save many more through prevention.

Follow these links to learn what is already being done and what you can do to help. If you have other helpful links not listed, please include them in the comments. We will add them to our list.

"Thank You!" to all who have helped make a difference in this fight! Let us keep moving forward!



UNAIDS
http://unaidstoday.org/

CDC
http://www.cdc.gov/features/worldaidsday/

World AIDS Day
http://www.worldaidsday.org/

"7 Books You'll Want To Read"
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/12/01/world-aids-day-2010_n_790010.html

AIDS.gov
http://aids.gov/

MPower Project: "Empower Women In India Through Literacy"

Join two of TAT's favorite organizations to help "teach hundreds of Indian women to read and write, boosting their self-esteem and empowering them to open bank accounts, start small businesses and participate fully in their households and communities."

MercyCorps and Powell's Books have joined together to help the women of India. Click on the MPower logo to learn more.

MercyCorps created MPower "to support urgent, life-changing projects that deliver opportunities and lasting change to people in the world's most challenging places."

Powell's Books is one of the nation's top Independent Bookstores. They are located in Portland, OR and boast of how their store "fills a whole city block with more than a million new, used, and out of print books."

Spirit Day October 20, 2010

Wear purple today to show your support!

This action was created by the efforts of one Canadian teen!

We all have a VOICE! Don't underestimate its POWER!

Remembering The Day

Today, nine years after 9/11, the shock and disbelief still overwhelms me. The pain and ache of all those lives and the tragedy which took them from us still bores a hollow into my soul. Even now the struggle to find meaning and understanding comes up empty. As a world population, our future is alight with the potential cruelty of man upon his neighbor. Given our human capacity for evil, this should not surprise us. Still that day caught us off guard. Everything happening since has been a scramble to regain what we lost—our sense of stability. We are unsure of what will happen or who will leap out at us next. Fear creeps into our lives a little more easily than it did on 9/10.

Recently, I spoke with a concerned individual regarding all the events happening in these times. He was troubled by what was occurring and his inability to exact change. While our perspectives differed on various issues, we both agreed that the best one can do to change the world is to help our local communities. Taking care of and looking after our neighbor with genuine love and compassion is the best cure for hatred and poverty. To heal the world around us, we must first heal each other. Our community may be our neighborhood, our work or our school. It may be our family, our synagogue, our temple, our mosque, or our church. Also, it could be an orphanage in Russia or flood victims in Pakistan. It may even be the women and children of Afghanistan.

Loving our neighbor as our self is a tough pill to swallow. Loving our enemy is an even tougher pill. Yet, understanding the true need at the heart of a tragedy, albeit difficult, is our duty as humans. We transcend the very nature of darkness by finding the light. We are often put off by the affliction such events inflict on our fellow man, but we must step back and see ourselves as God sees us. We are all hurting, afraid and in need of love. For those of us who feel useless in the efforts to help, look only to the person beside you. Start there. Show as much love as you can. Feed, cloth and lend a hand when possible. We become most like God when we face evil and act out of love.

To all the families and friends who lost loved ones on 9/11, and to all families and friends who have lost loved ones to terrorism, our hearts beat with yours. We hold you close and offer you our love and support. May their memories live on in our hearts. May you gain new strength each day. May God bless you deeply.

Grace, Peace and Love,

The Acacia Tree

Flooding In Pakistan

 As the waters continue to flood much of Pakistan, many organizations are working diligently to assist victims in the effected areas. We at The Acacia Tree would like to help those hit by this tragedy through assisting those on the ground in Pakistan and the organizations they represent. Several of these organizations are part of our Twitter family. We will be keeping you updated as to their progress and ways you can help.

MercyCorps (@MercyCorps). "Mercy Corps exists to alleviate suffering, poverty and oppression by helping people build secure, productive and just communities."

Oxfam International (@Oxfam) "Oxfam is an international confederation of 14 organizations working together in 99 countries and with partners and allies around the world to find lasting solutions to poverty and injustice."

Caritas Australia (@CaritasAust) "Caritas Australia helps people help themselves — regardless of race, religion or political beliefs...helping oppressed people to rediscover their dignity by taking greater control over their lives and overcoming poverty."

Out of Africa: The Elephant Corridor

The Elephant Corridor is a solution to the growing displacement of highly concentrated elephant populations. Civilzation and political turmoil have forced the herds to shift away from their normal migration routes and free ranging. This new "peace park" would create one of the world's largest wildlife parks and restore much of the land they have lost.

“I know of no political movement, no philosophy, no ideology, which does not agree with the peace parks concept as we see it going into fruition today. It is a concept that can be embraced by all. In a world beset by conflicts and division, peace is one of the cornerstones of the future. Peace parks are a building block in this process, not only in our region, but potentially in the entire world.” —Dr. N. Mandela

Out of Africa: Hope Community Center, Kenya

Hope Community Center is our second look at the work happening in Africa. If you missed our first, you can view it here. This orphanage is home to one hundred forty children but serves over three hundred. All of which have been orphaned through abandonment, abuse or parental death. Hope Community Center was founded in 1997 by Lucy Gacheru. She wants to take the love and care God shared with her throughout her life and give it to needy children in Kenya. The foundation of the Center is based upon Jeremiah 29.11.

"For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for wholeness and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.

The children are fed well, clothed and schooled. Lucy holds them each in her heart as her own. In her constant effort to improve their facilities, she is now building a high school and raising funds for a medical clinic. You can follow their progress and find ways to help at the Center's website and Facebook page.

Out of Africa and Back Again (CAMFED)

Africa is such an enigmatic country with much beauty and much pain. I would like to call out just a few places where you can learn about the good happening there. I will do one a week. Perhaps it might kindle an interest in you helping as well (assuming, of course, you are not doing so already). If you happen to be involved in outreach or conservation work there, please share you experience in the comment section. Thank you and God bless.

My first organization is CAMFED (Campaign for Female Education). If you are on Twitter, you can follow them @Camfed. On June 16, they posted this Tweet:

Help girls in rural Africa study by providing solar lamps just by following @thespudorg or clicking "Like" on Facebook! http://ow.ly/1Zlwn

Please feel free to do one or both and help support education in Africa.

Below is a quote pulled from their "About" page and a film short highlighting Cindy, one of the many girls supported by CAMFED.

Our Mission
Camfed fights poverty and HIV/AIDS in Africa by educating girls and empowering women to become leaders of change. Our goal: To improve the lives of two million children by 2013.

Our Values
Since 1993, we’ve operated community-based programs that place the needs of individual girls at the heart of our work. Here are the values that guide us.

Inspiring Tree Images from John Larroquette

When the Elephant Parade Passes By...

Elephant Parade London 2010 in support of Elephant Family, which serves to protect endangered elephants and their natural habitat.

"I now walk into the wild"

If you noticed recent Twitter updates, you read my mention of the life of Chris McCandless. When you immerse yourself into his story, you are compelled to take the journey with him and to ask the same questions of yourself. It is, I believe, a journey worth taking. I encourage you to visit him yourself. Let it sit with you for a while before making some final decision. Your reaction, truthfully, is not as important as what it helps you to see of yourself. Going through the ordeal with Chris will benefit you by revealing a part of yourself to you and helping you to understand how you view the world.

Here are some primary sources for reading Chris's story: The book Into The Wild by John Krakauer, the movie Into The Wild directed by Sean Penn, the music Into The Wild soundtrack by Eddie Vedder. You can also read the original article from Outside Magazine, Death of an Innocent written by John Krakauer.

From a Twitter reply, I learned of a new book coming out co-produced by Heather Horton. She is working on the book with Chris's parents along with other artists and friends. I refer you to her blog entry about her own journey to Bus 142. At the end is an update on the book and its progress. I have asked Heather to keep us updated on the book's developments, and she has kindly promised to do so. Now, I turn it over to you.

Grace and Peace on your journey!

Namaste

OH MY GOD

Oh My God by Peter Rodger

Give A Man A Fish

If you decide to become a vegetarian, I implore you to include fish in your diet or, at least, dairy and eggs. Should these exceptions prove unacceptable to you, then please learn all you can about protein—alternate sources, that is. Protein deficiency can cause severe health problems, and many people tend to transform themselves too quickly thinking only of the health benefits. Someone I care about did this exact thing, and she ended up putting her health at risk.

Ideally before any major dietary change, you should consult a nutritionist or a healthy practitioner as well as doing your own research. When my parents discovered they both had cancer, I became more concerned with nutrition. I have begun my own campaign to learn about what we eat and how that effects us. Personally, I prefer to be a pescetarian (pesco-vegetarian). A pescetarian's diet includes fish, mollusks, and crustaceans in addition to fruits, vegetables, plants, legumes, nuts, and grains. It may or may not include eggs and dairy. To be clear, I am advocating neither for  nor against vegetarianism. My main focus is the importance of protein. It helps us grow, heal and monitor our blood sugar.

One of my favorite examples of vegetarianism is the story of Bill Pearl. He is a legendary bodybuilder, who for twenty years had the "perfect" physique. During his fifty year career, he morphed from a meat eater to a lacto-ovo vegetarian. At seventy-nine, Bill Pearl is still teaching people about health and nutrition. He maintains a 30-40-30 diet (30% protein-40%carbs-30%fat). Percentages are part of his teachings. It says that out of 100% of your diet devote a third of it to protein.

In the future, for your own health, I ask that you think before you eat. Whether you are a vegan, a vegetarian or a carnivore, I hope you will watch your percentages. And, finally, strive not for the "perfect" body, but for "perfect" health.

Happy Earth Day!

Recommended Read: The Impossibility of Secularism - Or, Who Are You In? by Eric at Scatterings

Here is an excerpt from the blog Scatterings by Eric

"We like to present our lives and our selves, both to others and to ourselves, as put-together and whole and basically unruptured. But it's not true. There is a kind of dislocation, a rupture, a breach in the wall, in each one of us. It seems to me that we make up for it by living out ahead of ourselves, but creating some ideal self, some bigger, more consistent, more beautiful person, which we constantly chase after and try to instantiate in the humdrum of each day. Or by immersing ourself in a cause or idea/l which produces the same effect."

Continue reading HERE