C.R.E.A.T.I.V.: January 2010

So I come here as no expert on any of the topics mentioned in the title, but this is a plea to get people involved in any of these topics.

Haiti
I guess the first topic is Haiti. I am not going to spend to long on this because I have a feeling an article on Haiti will appear on this blog soon enough. You can google the country and find out about where it is and its background, but just a couple things:

First independent nation in Latin America and the first black-led republic in the world
It gained independence as part of a successful slave rebellion in 1804
It is the only predominantly Francophone independent nation in the Americas
Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere
The United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) took over as security with a provisional governement after a rebillion on the president in 2004.
A new President Rene Preval, was elected by general election in 2006.

As you can see Haiti was already a troubled country and the devastation that happened this January, has caused this country to cry for help. C.R.E.A.T.I.V. strongly believe in showing the positives and not just the negatives, so I went in search and I found a great blog entry written by a lady (Cheri Kay) who is helping children in Haiti and the comments that followed. The one that appreciated the most was the beauty of the country. Here are a couple more that may make u laugh, or at least smile about things that are easier to do in Haiti:

It's easier to drive from one coast of your country to the other.
It's easier to find and go to an extraordinarily beautiful waterfall.
It's easier to get super fresh delicious amazing bananas, avacados, pineapple,
It's easier to meet BelO (my favorite singer.)
It's easier to get whistled at by a man....or 100 men all in one day! (not that it is flattering)
It's easier to teach your children to be thankful for the basics in life
It's easier to find a pay phone (they walk up to you)
It's easier to take a bus (tap-tap) because they run every 15 seconds

(http://cherikayinhaiti.blogspot.com/2008/12/looking-at-good-things.html)

I know there are many countries that need emergency/humanitarian aid and many more that will need it, but I am urging everyone whether it is 1pound or 10p or more, please give something to Haiti. There are other ways to give, so if you want to get something for your donation you can buy the album, Hope for Haiti, or just google away I am sure there are so many organisations collecting and sending aid to Haiti.

If you have not got money to give, then why not post a comment or send us an email on how C.R.E.A.T.I.V. can help raise funds. We are aiming to do one fundraising drive from April till June (a time when people may be giving less, as it will not be publicised as much) to raise money. But we would love to hear more ideas and raise more money.

Adoption
So this is a bit of a random, or maybe not so random topic. Well I personaly would like to adopt when it is my time to have children, when I am stable and have the knowledge, time, living environment to raise a child. Many people do not understand why, but it really has nothing to do with not wanting to go through the pain, because ever since being a young girl, I have longed to nurture a child, and feel it growing within in me. But this isn't actually about me, and I don't want to preach that everyone should adopt.

BUT, I came into contact with a charity this Sunday that encourages adopting children, not the adoption like I described above but the adoption of a child in a developing country, where you agree to help fund that childs life from your home. I think it is a great thing, if you can afford it, I do encourage it. I was a little sceptical as to whether the money will always be used for the young child's education, health... But I think if you do decide to this, maybe the right thing to do is to go to the country with the charity and meet your adopted child... more than once, so you can see the improvements and if what you are doing to help is really helping.

Education for Life
Last topic, and I promise it will be short. Since I finished my masters last January, actually since I finished my Bachelor Degree, I have felt like I know nothing. During my Masters I learnt and agree that 'The more you know, The less you know' (the more you learn, the more you realise that you do not know anything, and the more questions you have), I think the guy below put it very well (thumbs up):

Imagine an infinite checker board, and what you know is one square. What you "know" you don't know if the adjoining squares (meaning, the eight squares around your knowledge are the questions you can form based on your current knowledge. If you expand your knowledge to four squares now the adjoining squares are 12 squares. They larger your knowledge base (in squares) the larger the perimeter is so the more you know the less you know (meaning the more things you DON'T know about but can formulate a question for.
Happy Hiram

So since, at the moment I have a lot of time on my hands, and I also need to keep my brain working, and keep up with what is happening in the world, I have been attending lectures and seminars. So here I am again encouraging something, education for life. Even if it is not a seminar or lecture, but just a Spanish class one evening a week, or meeting up with your friends to discuss a topic you want to know more about. I definitely think it will encourage your mind to work, to encourage questioning the world, making you a better person, to help find yourself and define yourself, and maybe make you more knowledgeable in something you didn't know you were interested in.

Yes, I know it is a little late as we are now in the 4th week of January, but C.R.E.A.T.I.V. took a little break after the Lagos book launch of 'Small Chops' on the 5th January. Trust me we needed it!!!

Lagos was hectic, hot, and we arrived in the middle of a fuel shortage (this amazes me as Nigeria exports oil). But apart from the craziness, the launch was a success. It took place on a nice warm evening (yes, mosquitoes probably chopped a lot of people), near a pool side. It was all pretty chilled out, as we introduced C.R.E.A.T.I.V., spoke about SOS Nigeria and had a reading from one of the writers, Chiedu Ifeozo until.... Our guests took over. They felt we hadn't given the book enough of a celebratory launch... so they did it for us, and in doing so, we raised more money from people pledging tens of thousands of Naira.

Quick preview: We raised approximately 2000 pounds. We will disclose the total amount at a further date when we have collected all donations.

So we have now had our first meeting of 2010, and there is a lot to be done!!!! We have big plans, and even bigger ideas, including a 24hr play, running the Majorca Marathon.... climbing Mt. Everest, changing to world to be a better place.... Ok, I am getting carried away, but without dreams and hopes where do we go?

HAPPY NEW YEAR WORLD!