Song of the Week: Better Days

I heard this during traffic yesterday...

Goo Goo Dolls - Better Days
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The Answer to Skin Cancer

I know a woman who considers tanning her religion.

She used to have a lovely clear complexion—although she was pretty pale.

I recently saw her again and she looked almost like she had changed races. She was sporting a very brown Bermuda tan. She looked very “sexy” according to our "Western" culture.

Last year I went to China to visit family; I saw many women of all ages around the urban areas as well as the countryside. Most of them, if not all, covered their skin for protection from the sun. Many of them carried umbrellas to shield themselves against an unwanted tan.

Conversely, these pale girls looked very “sexy” according to their culture. In the shops in China (as well as many places in Asia and Africa) they sell many facial and skin creams that are used to “bleach-out” the skin so that it is very white.

I believe that people, particularly women, are unaware of how much culture has forced them to reconsider what they would naturally consider beautiful.

We want what we can’t have. We want the pros without the cons that go right along with looking good.

The cons, however, are very extensive when considering skin cancer. The CDC says that skin cancer is the most common cancer in the United States today. The CDC website says that “53,792 people were diagnosed with melanomas of the skin, and 8,345 people died from it” in 2005.

There are several types of skin cancer: basel cell carcinoma (which is the most common and most easily treated), squamous cell carcinoma, and melanoma. There are also several other types of skin cancers that are not as common as these three.
Some of the signs and symptoms of the most common skin cancer (basel cell carcinoma) includes, according to the Mayo Clinic: a pearly or waxy bump on your face, ears or neck and/or a flat, flesh-colored scar-like lesion on your chest of back. (Click here to see a picture of basel cell carinoma). I doubt that the people that spend their summers on the beach and in tanning beds will ever appreciate cancer that is so ugly.

How do you prevent skin cancer? It is pretty obvious! You have to protect yourself from the sun by limiting sun exposure, wearing hats, wearing UVA protection of SPF 30 or higher, and avoid tanning beds.

The treatment of skin cancer depends on the type, size, and depth of the location. Skin cancer treatments range from freezing, excisional surgery, lasers, radiation, immunotherapy, and to chemotherapy. An interesting treatment is called Mohs surgery. In this type of surgery each layer of skin is removed until all the abnormal cells are gone.


We could blame the prevalence of skin cancer on our culture, but the truth of it is, we all know that it is dangerous to get a tan/sunburn. We know that it is common sense to stay out of the sun. Now that we have this type of data that clearly shows the danger, there is no reason that we should step into a tanning bed this summer!

Unless you have to wear a strapless dress for a friend’s wedding, of course.

Which is, sadly, exactly what many of us do.

Song of the week...

Mike Edel "Turn the Lights on Bright" from Jordan Clarke on Vimeo.

I randomly found this guy, Mike Edel. Great stuff and he's unsigned! Love how gentle and graceful his words and music flow together...

http://www.myspace.com/mikeedel

Innocense Lost

My friend gave me this link. Very powerful.




What is Human Trafficking?

Human Trafficking is a crime against humanity. It involves an act of recruiting, transporting, transferring, harbouring or receiving a person through a use of force, coercion or other means, for the purpose of exploiting them. Every year, thousands of men, women and children fall into the hands of traffickers, in their own countries and abroad. Every country in the world is affected by trafficking, whether as a country of origin, transit or destination for victims.

Elements Of Human Trafficking
On the basis of the definition given in the Trafficking in Persons Protocol, it is evident that trafficking in persons has three constituent elements;
The Act (What is done)
Recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons
The Means (How it is done)
Threat or use of force, coercion, abduction, fraud, deception, abuse of power or vulnerability, or giving payments or benefits to a person in control of the victim
The Purpose (Why it is done)
For the purpose of exploitation, which includes exploiting the prostitution of others, sexual exploitation, forced labour, slavery or similar practices and the removal of organs.
To ascertain whether a particular circumstance constitutes trafficking in persons, consider the definition of trafficking in the Trafficking in Persons Protocol and the constituent elements of the offense, as defined by relevant domestic legislation. (Source: UNODC)


Watch Human Trafficking Bangladesh.avi in Educational  |  View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

Since I have been training (please visit my support site: www.firstgiving.com/annaboyd), I have been on the look-out for info about the situation in Bangladesh. I found the above video very informative.

Song of the Week... Laughs With...

TEBOW POWER

Last night my Cincinnati Bearcats got destroyed by the University of Florida's Gators. I never watch football. (Futbol is another story.) But it's University of Cincinnati. Since my dad played for the Bearcats like 500 years ago, they are my exception. UC all the way here.

After the painful destructive end to a pretty good season for the Bearcats, the Gators took their victory ending with a score of 51-24.

I love the Bearcats... but Tim Tebow pretty much amazed me.

I don't care about the sports. It wasn't about the fact that he won the Heisman.

"I want to thank my Lord and Savior" were the first words out of his mouth upon receiving his award on national television.

That's boldness for you.

Tebow told the NYT that his goal is "Just helping the hospitals and the prisons and sharing the faith and doing the things that I want to do that are truly my passion. I want to take that platform, that and everything that God has given me. Hopefully that means playing quarterback at the next level. That’s my goal. I want to use that to do different things. To have organizations, to have non-profits. To do similar things that my dad does in the Philippines, but to have them here in the States. In other countries, too."

He has already raised over $300,000 for his father's orphanage in the Philippines.

He is the son of a preacher, home schooled, and is a legend in college football.

Not bad.

Take that America.

We need more with his aspirations and boldness.

Props to Tebow!

I Just Found Dr. Paul Farmer

I'm reading a new book. (Thanks for the suggestion Ruth!) It's called Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the World by Tracy Kidder. I think it just changed my life and I'm not even done with it yet.

The book is about Dr. Paul Farmer, a doctor and anthropologist who specializes in infectious disease focusing and working with the poorest and sickest people in Haiti. And that's only the beginning.

How can one man live so selfishly? How can one person truly only think of others in a world where everything is dying anyway? Those are the kind of questions that have started to fly around my little brain as I have been trying to grasp the selflessness of an individual like Dr. Farmer.

Amazing book.

Read it.

He also helped found Partners In Health, a foundation whose mission is to provide a preferential option for the poor in health care. Their vision is to do "whatever it takes." Partners In Health (PIH) "is both medical and moral. ...based on solidarity, rather than charity alone. When a person in Peru, or Siberia, or rural Haiti falls ill, PIH uses all of the means at [their] disposal to make them well—from pressuring drug manufacturers, to lobbying policy makers, to providing medical care and social services. Whatever it takes."

More info:

NPR did an interview with Tracy Kidder a while back about this book. They also did an interview with Dr. Paul Farmer that is very insightful.

You can access portions of the book on google books.

Here is a Dartmouth Lecture about Mountains Beyond Mountains with Farmer that I found interesting.

Why Would Anyone Run the Sahara?

I think it used to be easy for people to become great explorers. All you needed was guts. And a little gumption. The world was waiting to be explored.

Columbus, Magellan, and Captain James Cook just went sailing.

Lewis and Clark just decided to go jump a few continents.

Today people have to find other ways to explore, I guess. There's not really a mountain you can climb that has not been climbed yet.

And everybody has continent jumping right at their fingertips for a price.

People have to be a little more creative today...

I caught a glimpse of the DVD "Running the Sahara" a few days ago.

But. Really? Why would someone do that?

I guess that is what made me watch.

Running. 50 miles a day? For more than 100 days? Through 6 countries? Over 4,300 miles?

Watch it. It's amazing.

It almost seems ridiculous.

But it's amazing.

The group also started the H2O Foundation around their run. This foundation is dedicated to creating a "widespread public awareness of the water crisis in Africa and gathering support for clean water programs in critical areas, including communities along the Running the Sahara route."

Song of the Week.... Change

Taylor Swift.

I know.

But my run yesterday consisted of Change being played 9 times back-to-back.

Therefore, it won.

Living in Emergency; Review of the Doctors Without Borders Documentary

Last night I attended the one-night event Living in Emergency. The documentary was an insiders view of Doctors Without Borders, also known as Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) internationally. The documentary, hosted by Elizabeth Vargas, was held in select theaters across the nation.

I enjoyed it.



Well. "Enjoyed" is not really the word I should use.

There's something about horrible situations that make enjoyment kind of scarce.

The whole documentary showed why this type of work is only for a special kind of people... The type of person that is able to live in an unlivable situation for hardly any reason beyond assisting in any way possible.

What's worse, is that these people have to actually be able to be unable to help. And be able to deal with it.

I think that is the most difficult thing that each interviewee mentioned in the documentary; doing all you can but dealing with the consequences of bad decisions and dealing with the fact that sometimes you can't do anything.

Yet, these "special" people claimed to be selfish. That helping people was only a way they helped themselves.



One interviewee mentioned that a person driving in a car on a highway has a responsibility to the person in front of him. If there was a car crash, that person should try to help.

She likened the entire world to a huge car crash. And she said that we don't have any option but to try and help.

Well said.

Fantastic, thought provoking, encouraging... and burdening at the same time.

All around a great documentary.

A Marathon to Bangladesh with Love

Several years ago while in high school I read a book. The book shaped my life more than I thought possible... It was with a whole bunch of other books ranging from Dr. Livingstone's autobiography to several self-published books by missionary doctors.

I then went to college.

And then I graduated and started applying to grad/med schools... and then when I realized I might be stuck around here in the good ol' USofA for a while longer... I thought I should probably find something to do around here to help the causes I've wanted to work with for such a long time.

That book I read was a book called "Daktar" about the surgeon who helped ABWE begin the little hospital, Memorial Christian Hospital, in Bangladesh.

I met a man named Dr. Steve Kelley at a missions conference a few years ago who works at the same hospital. He gave me an idea of what really is going on there. And how places like MCH need full-time workers... not just for the short-term.

Plus, Mr. Adolph, a lab technician at MCH for more than 40 years, and his wife, a school teacher who developed a student support system for the school there, have attended the church I became a member of after I returned to Ohio after college graduation.

I then randomly "met" through twitter, Matt Powell, who just went to MCH to photograph the beauties and hardships of Bangladesh for Samaritan's Purse. (Check out this amazing photography here!)

So all in all. For the past several years I've had quite a bit of interaction with the people at MCH.

And just about a month ago I noticed a story on the Samaritan's Purse website about a guy running marathons to raise money for MCH's building renewal project.

The project includes:

-a 100-bed Medical Center (50,000 s.f.)-with ~80% of the old facility being preserved for administrative and non-clinical functions

-10 bed ICU, 6 room OR suite, ER & Trauma Services

-Improved Outpatient Clinic Space-roughly tripled to enable care for more than 300 outpatients daily; greatly expanded capability to support satellite clinics.

I love running.

I was sold.

So, I've decided to train and run a marathon to raise money for the good people at MCH.

While I begin to train like a madwoman, I will appreciate your support. Please visit my fundraising page.

Feel free to join the fray. You can run and raise money for MCH too!

Song of the Week...by Josh Turner??

Yes. Country.

But I love his voice.

My brothers have gotten to me.

Emmanuel Jal

Emmanuel Jal, an ex-child soldier turned rap artist, founded GUA Africa. The word GUA (pronounced gwaah) means peace in Nuer, a tribal language of Southern Sudan.

Song of the Week...by Mads Langer

Fact-Fiction by Mads Langer....

I just found this guy. Pretty great stuff.

The Red Cross: A History

So this is what I've been reading today...



(Gotta love google.)

"Since its founding in 1881 by visionary leader Clara Barton, the American Red Cross has been the nation's premier emergency response organization. As part of a worldwide movement that offers neutral humanitarian care to the victims of war, the American Red Cross distinguishes itself by also aiding victims of devastating natural disasters. Over the years, the organization has expanded its services, always with the aim of preventing and relieving suffering."

Source: American Red Cross

I've been trying to get involved with the American Red Cross locally; it's easy to get involved!