Parenting from Scratch

So, I’ve kind of always had a thing for penguins. I still remember the first time I saw a penguin exhibit. I was 20, and it was at the New Orleans aquarium. They’re just so darn cute. Naturally, I wat totally excited when I had the opportunity to have a special preview of the Laura P. Nichols Penguin Pointe at the Little Rock Zoo.

Penguin Pointe is fantastic, and if you’re in the Central Arkansas area, you should pop in to the Zoo this Saturday (March 5, 10am) for the Grand Opening. Or at least get on down there sometime soon.

Here are a few tidbits about Penguin Pointe:

• The exhibit is designed to allow you to you see the penguins both above ground and underwater. I thought this was awesome. When Sadie and I met up with Stephanie, Sean and Jasper at the Memphis Zoo last fall, Sadie was really into the penguins. But we weren’t able to see them swimming from an underwater perspective. This makes a huge difference.
• As of now, there are a total of 11 penguins living here in Little Rock, and they are all African blackfooted penguins. In the exhibit itself are seven males and two females (one bonded pair so far!). Two additional penguins, Laura ans Skipper, live in their own quarters so they can attend presentations, events and school visits.
• Laura and Skipper are available for educational birthday parties! Yes, please.
• All of the penguins were bred in captivity as part of the Species Survival Plan.
• The African blackfooted penguin is an endangered species, so the Little Rock Zoo is doing its part to help conserve these awesome little creatures.

I’ve, uh, been blogging somewhere else. And there’s so much more to do over there. Here are links to the Heifer Blog posts I’ve done about my Africa trip so far. (If you make it to the bottom of the list, you’ll be rewarded with the two funniest photos of me from the trip.)

Biogas/Appropriate Technology

Biogas in Uganda–Any Questions?

Biogas is Important for Rural Women

Biogas is Important for the Environment

Biogas is Important for Rural Children (I made a video!)

Appropriate Technology Keeps Your Hands Clean

Uganda

The Storks of Kampala

The Roads of Uganda

Heifer

Pierre Ferrari Samples Local Yogurt

The Casual Conversations

The Top 5 Reasons Heifer Africa Rocks

Energized and Heiferized

Changing the Way We Look at Rural Development

That's a monkey. About to eat a peanut off of my head.

It is shocking. How huge and thick and slimy a giraffe's tongue is. Shocking.

Heifer Blog | The Official Blog of Heifer International: Biogas in Uganda.

Here’s another one, y’all.

Heifer Blog | The Official Blog of Heifer International: The Storks of Kampala.

Hey guys, here’s my first post on Uganda. If you’re interested, please leave comments! Comments are lacking on most of the Heifer Blog posts, but I’d really love it if I could start changing that!

Well, more like 9,000 miles. That’s about how far I’m going to be from my family. For real.

In case I haven’t talked to you lately, the big news is that I am traveling to Kenya and Uganda for work. Wowza would be an appropriate response. I’m accompanying our new CEO on a trip to visit some of our East Africa Dairy Development projects. I’m still trying to wrap my head around everything, and I just finished packing, so I’m going to be brief for the moment.

I may or may not be posting on this blog while I’m there. I’m going to be primarily posting to the Heifer blog and hopefully quite a bit, so keep an eye out there. I’ll also be sending in real-time tweets (@brookeje), if all goes well.

I’m super excited about the trip, but I’m also bummed about being so far away for so long from Trevor and Sadie. I wish they were coming with me. I’ve gotten choked up a couple of times already about leaving Sadie. We had our trial run back in September when I went to Orlando, so I know she’ll be fine. She’s in good hands. I just hope I don’t embarrass myself in front of my colleagues, bawling my eyes out or anything.

It’s been pretty whirlwind getting ready for this trip, too. I only learned I was going right before Thanksgiving. I had to have my passport expedited, get my shots (Oh, and cross your fingers I don’t get yellow fever. They don’t give that vaccine out to nursing mothers, FYI.), do all kinds of other paperwork, round up all the gear I’m taking and who knows what else. I nearly left work Friday without my travel advance; I did forget to deposit it. I stained a (borrowed) pair of pants and two (new-used) white shirts pink; I was totally unsuccessful at attempting to dye them blue. But, I did manage to pack everything I need into a laptop bag and a carry-on suitcase. Ten points for me!

So, I’ll leave you with the best picture I’ve taken of Sadie in a long time. I’ve set it as the background on my laptop. You know, so I can cry every night when I’m trying to get my job done.

I miss you so much, Sadie; I’m eating baked beans with breakfast this morning.

Was pretty uneventful. I didn’t get any cuts, not even a stone bruise. I’m fairly certain I did not pick up any worms or contract any diseases. It was a bit cool (in the 40s when I left for work), but nothing unbearable. Although nobody asked me why I was barefoot, I noticed that I was pretty self-conscious about it, to the extent that I think I was walking weird. Like, in quick, short steps. I suppose it was because I work in a large office with a lot of people, some of whom don’t know me at all, and none of whom really know me very well.

I walked on a number of surfaces, most of which my bare feet normally never touch (bamboo flooring!). The most difficult to walk on was definitely the gravel in the parking lot at work. But I only had a few steps to go on it. I did put my shoes on when I went to pick Sadie up from daycare, because I figured being shoeless was probably a no-no with health codes and all. When I got there, though, the daycare director was shoeless, too! So I popped my shoes back into my purse.

It was easy for me, but for millions of kids, it’s no joke. Many families can’t afford shoes for their children. And no shoes often equals no education.

On the bathroom tile.

On the parking lot gravel.

Post-shower.

Post-day.

I think One Day Without Shoes is a great idea, and I hope to participate more fully next year. It’s pretty easy to participate–just don’t wear shoes! Did anybody else join the movement? What did you do? What are other unique ways we can raise awareness about issues that matter to us?

In addition to TOMS One for One movement, here are a few other ways you can help others have shoes on their feet:

• Shoe4Africa I’m actually having a tough time telling if they’re still in operation.
• This Runner’s World article (albeit old) has some additional links.
• And don’t forget to think locally. Nonprofits in your home town like Salvation Army or Goodwill are happy to take your gently used shoes.

Tomorrow is One Day Without Shoes day. I think I’m actually going to take the challenge. Working for an international development organization certainly makes me more aware of the struggles of the world’s poor.

From the website:

• In some developing nations, children must walk for miles to school, clean water and to seek medical help.
• Cuts and sores on feet can lead to serious infection.
• Often, children cannot attend school barefoot.
• In Ethiopia, approximately one million people are suffering from Podoconiosis, a debilitating and disfiguring disease caused by walking barefoot in volcanic soil.
• Podoconiosis is 100% preventable with basic foot hygiene and wearing shoes.

I’ve got one pair of TOMS, and I suspect I’ll bring them along for the day just in case (of what, I don’t know), but I don’t think I’ll have much of a problem going barefoot tomorrow. Because I don’t walk for miles to get my water; because I don’t walk in volcanic soil; because I have the option of wearing shoes if I want to. So I’ll help raise awareness for those that aren’t as lucky.

P.S. If you’re a Little Rock native, stop by the Box Turtle, leave your shoes at the door and get 20 percent off your purchase of a pair of TOMS shoes (making it that much easier to provide a pair of shoes to someone in need)!