Making Fast Friends

Our pets run
42 miles per hour.
If you can't catch them,
Don't let them out!
~ Sign in a house for sale

Meet Nicky (l) and Calypso (r). Along with Hendrix(below left), they greeted the public at Saturday's Greyhound Event held at the new Pet Supermarket in Bellevue (west Nashville). Greyhound Pets of America/Nashville Chapter sponsored the event to educate the public on what great pets greyhounds make. The group does greyhound meet and greets often throughout the year in different venues.

There are greyhound race tracks all over the country, as you probably know. While the dogs are profitable, their owners keep them racing. If they start losing or are injured, the owners either try to adopt them out or have them destroyed. Believe it or not, many of the race greyhounds don't make it to five years of age. Within the last 10 years or so, greyhound rescue organizations have cropped up to save these "retired" racers.

All retired racers, the Nicky, Calypso and Hendrix now reside with Nashvillians, living the life of Riley. The owners tell me that they don't shed as much as some dogs and would rather spend their days lounging around. They have great temperaments, are very friendly, and are generally good with children. They can, however, run FAST. If they see prey, they can reach 45 mph in three strides, and they won't stop until they either tire or get the prey.

The sign I quoted at the top of the post was an actual sign in a home I visited recently. The owners had three greyhounds. Since I can't reach speeds of more than 2 mph, I made sure not to let them out!

If you want more information on greyhound adoption, click here.

Sons of Lwala II

The Kenyan musicians shown above performed at the reception before the premiere of Sons of Lwala the other evening. In addition, Jars of Clay, a Christian rock group, performed one of the songs they had written and performed for the movie. And, former Senator Bill Frist gave the introduction to the movie.

A couple of final notes: Milton and Fred's older brother, Ormondi, manages the clinic. Their two sisters, Flo and Grace, are in still in school. One is a senior in high school, and the other is in nursing school, both in the United States. The youngest Ochieng' brother, Solomon, is a freshman in high school in Kenya.

The clinic sees a lot of children, and most of them are under the age of 5 years. Believe it or not, 80% of the children in the village are infested with intestinal parasites because of the lack of running water. The clinic itself doesn't have running water, although they hope to install a system in the next year.

Health care in this country, as we all know, is very expensive. In Lwala, $180 will supply a baby with clean water and formula for six months. . . $300 will pay the salary of a community health worker for one year. . .$3300 will pay the salary of one nurse for a year. It makes you think, doesn't it?

Sons of Lwala

In Lwala village,
you really don't belong
to your parents,
you belong to everybody.
- Milton Ochieng'

Today, I would like to tell you a story about two brothers (medical students at Vanderbilt University) and their dedication to help the people of the village that helped them.

Milton (small photo right) and Fred ( below left) Ochieng' were born in Lwala, Kenya. A rural village that lacks both electricity and running water, Lwala is located in Nyanza province bordering Lake Victoria. The 1500 villagers rely on rainwater and water from local springs and rivers for their water. The economy relies on farming, and most villagers grow a variety of crops and keep chickens, goats, cows, etc. The village's remote location and lack of infrastructure make it difficult for villagers to access good health care. The main mode of transportation is by bicycle, making the more than 25-mile trip to a doctor extremely difficult.

Milton and Fred are the second and third children of Erastus and Margaret Ochieng'. They have one older and one younger brother and two younger sisters. Their parents, both educators, took out loans so that the boys could attend the top boarding school in Kenya. Milton was one of two students from the high school to come to the United States through an exchange program with Brooks School in Andover, MA. He later applied to and was accepted by Dartmouth. The problem was he didn't have the plane fare to make the trip to the States. The people of Lwala sold crops, chickens and cows to raise the $900 for Milton's ticket. Their one request was that he not forget the village. The following year, Fred joined Milton at Dartmouth.

Their father, a biology and chemistry teacher, wanted to build a health clinic in Lwala to help area residents fight preventable diseases and bring health care to those in such desperate need. Unfortunately, both he and Margaret were dying of AIDs (Nyanza province has one of the highest rates of HIV in Kenya.), but he discussed it with Milton and Fred. When Milton became a medical student at Vanderbilt University in Nashville (class of '08), he began working to fulfill his father's vision, enlisting the help of various organizations and obtaining donations while taking a full class load. Fred joined him in medical school (class of '10) and also helped in fulfilling the promise they made. It was not easy for either of them.

Erastus and Margaret got the village and surrounding area behind the project, forming a committee comprised of members of all area tribes. Unfortunately, Margaret passed away early in 2004. As sick as he was, Erastus continued to work on the proposal but passed away one week before they broke ground for the clinic in 2005. Milton and Fred continued to work toward their goal, and the clinic finally opened in April, 2007, staffed by a few nurses and one physician's assistant. In its first eight months of operation, the staff treated 12,000 patients.

There is much more to this story than what I've told today. Two years ago, television reporter Barry Simmons met Milton and decided to quit his job to work on a documentary about the Lwala clinic. He left his job at WTVF-TV and, working with photographer Ian Montgomery (who still works at WTVF), traveled with Milton and Fred to Lwala and other places to document the fulfillment of the Ochieng' dream. Thursday evening, the documentary, Sons of Lwala, premiered to a crowd at TPAC (Click here for my post on TPAC.) in downtown Nashville.

The Kenyan musicians in the main photo performed at the premiere.

For more information on Sons of Lwala or to view the film's trailer, click here, and for more information on the project, click here.

Aside: Milton was the first person from Lwala to ever fly in a plane. After he graduates from medical school this year, he'll become a resident at a hospital in St. Louis.

Skywatch Friday - Cranes, Cranes, Cranes

There is a lot of building going on all over Nashville. Developers are putting up high-rise condominium towers all over the downtown area, or they're renovating old buildings and turning those into condominiums. Cranes dot the downtown skyline.

Here's an interesting fact: It takes a crane operator so long - almost 60 minutes - to get to his post (the white box just below the horizontal arm) that he stays there the entire day, even during break time. You can see in the smaller photo that the cranes tower over buildings that have 13 or more stories.

I took these photos last evening as we were on our way to a downtown event. For most of the day, the sky had been cloudy and grey, but around 5:00, the sun came out, and the then-cloudless sky turned blue.


For a link to more Skywatch Friday photos, click here.

COMING TOMORROW: I have a heart-warming and important story to share with you. Please stop back!

Midway Plantation Slave Cemetery

In the middle of a road about a block away from Brentwood High School is the Midway Plantaion Slave Cemetery. Approximately 38 slaves worked the farm during the mid-19th Century, and many are buried on this site.

The 1000-acre plantation, owned by Lysander McGavock, got its name because it was located approximately half-way between Nashville and Franklin. More than 600 acres were farmland and produced corn and tobacco. During the Civil War, armies from both sides camped on the plantation at some point, and generals from both armies occupied the home at different times.

The slave cemetery sits in the middle of Murray Road which is flanked on both sides by exclusive subdivisions.

Easter Parade on the Greenway

While Easter Day in Nashville was pretty chilly, it was sunny and pleasant, so we decided to take the dogs for a stroll on one of Nashville's greenways. We ended up at the Brookemeade Greenway at Kelly's Point Battlefield (a Civil War site).

Greenways are linear corridors of land on which the city has paved trails for public access. The land itself remains undeveloped, but the trails are perfect for walking, running, cycling, jogging, skating, or just enjoying the natural beauty. Most of the greenways run along rivers, streams, ridges, etc., making these areas accessible for everyone to enjoy. There are about 10 greenways in Nashville/Davidson County, including one that runs along the Cumberland River downtown.

Kelly's Point Battlefield is on the Cumberland River at Bell's Bend on the westside of Nashville. It was on this site in December, 1864, that the largest sustained battle between the Confederate land forces and Union naval forces took place. The site had been forgotten and was under consideration for development until about 10 years ago when the Battle of Nashville Preservation Society and the city agreed to include it in the greenway.

Please note: While I would normally crop this in a bit, because I had to upload it differently, I left it as is today. Hopefully, third time is a charm, and it's showing up.

Problems Persist

I am still having problems uploading photos with Picasa or Blogger or both. Thanks to a few of you who have answered my cry for help in the Forum. I'm still trying to resolve the problem and have uploaded a photo today a little differently to see if it works.

So, if you see no photo, please stop back. I hope that, at some point, I can fix the glitch.

Thanks!

First Church of Christ, Scientist

The First Church of Christ, Scientist, is located in Green Hills about 1/2 mile from the Mall at Green Hills. They hold two services weekly - Sunday and Wednesday - as well as a youth service. The Christian Science Reading Room is in downtown Nashville, which is probably about 8 miles or so from the church.

I know very little about their theology, and most of it I've gleaned from the whole debacle with a certain actor within the past few years. If you wanted to find out more about this church and/or its tenets, you could click here.

Aside: For some reason, Blogger keeps eating the original photo I posted this morning. I'll try to post it tomorrow if I can figure out what's going on.

Blogger is at it, again

For some reason, Blogger is not showing my photos this morning. I'm trying to remedy the situation. Please stop back if you don't see a photo. Thanks!

Happy Easter

Twas Easter Sunday.
The full-blossomed trees
Filled all the air with
fragrance and with joy.
~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Happy Easter, everyone.

(This Bradford Pear tree is in our backyard.)