Category Archives: Good Causes

Every Day is a Surprise. Also, People are A$$h0Le5. (part 2)

And so, my motorcycle was repaired, and I planned for the next day to be completely uneventful – one of those days where you catch up on tasks that have been piling up. But I was wrong. The morning was … Continue reading

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Introducing Kids in Madagascar to Photography: Results (3)

This is the third in series of posts in which I write about introducing kids to photography, using point-and-shoot film cameras from the 1980s and 90s, at the youth center, Le Cameleon, in Antananarivo, Madagascar. You can find previous posts in … Continue reading

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Introducing Kids in Madagascar to Photography: Results (2)

This is one of a short series of posts in which I write about introducing kids to photography, using point-and-shoot film cameras from the 1980s and 90s, at the youth center, Le Cameleon, in Antananarivo, Madagascar. You can find previous posts … Continue reading

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Introducing Kids in Madagascar to Photography: Results (1)

I wrote last time about the youth center, Le Cameleon, we crowdfunded and built in Antananarivo, Madagascar, and the project we organized to introduce a half dozen interested kids to photography, using point-and-shoot film cameras from the 1980s and 90s. … Continue reading

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Sharing our Passion: Kids in Madagascar Get a First Taste of Photography

A few years ago, I joined a couple of other folks with a passion for photography and an interest in doing something for the local community in Antananarivo, Madagascar. We collaborated to successfully crowdfund a small youth center that would … Continue reading

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Great News: Jerome is Learning English and Coding!

Way back in 2016 when I was still new to Madagascar, Anne and I saw an online notice that a crowdfunding initiative on the eastern coast of the country was looking for a photographer and a videographer to produce a … Continue reading

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Barefoot in the Malagasy Jungle: the Making of Onja’s Crowdfunding Video (part 3)

In the third and and final installment in this series I have written about a trip we took out to a remote village in Madagascar, to help film a crowdfunding video for a great cause, Onja.  In this post I … Continue reading

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Barefoot in the Malagasy Jungle: the Making of Onja’s Crowdfunding Video (part 2)

This is part two in a series.  Part one can be viewed here. So as I noted yesterday, after our long trek into the countryside, the first order of business was to meet with the President of Andovolalina, the village … Continue reading

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Barefoot in the Malagasy Jungle: the Making of Onja’s Crowdfunding Video (part 1)

It started back in July when I got an interesting item in my “Google Alerts” for Madagascar.  A small NGO was looking for a filmmaker and a social media manager to support their project in eastern Madagascar.  I quickly fired … Continue reading

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Anjezika: Antananarivo’s “Waterworld”

This is Anjezika. Once a vibrant fishing and rice-growing village, it has gradually been encircled and choked off by the surrounding city of Antananarivo, Madagascar.  Now, nobody grows anymore rice here.  A few small fish can be collected from the … Continue reading

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Children of the Street: Ankorondrano

A group of about a dozen kids gathers on a small patch of green with a few benches and trees.  Basically a large roundabout.  Imagine an oblong Dupont Circle, except Starbucks is 3,000 miles away.  The sound of traffic is … Continue reading

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Love Your Neighbor

Truth be told, we didn’t ask to come to Madagascar just for the lemurs – although they’re a pretty nice bonus.  A big reason we came here because we want to try and make a difference, somewhere, in someone’s lives; … Continue reading

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Checking in with Rocky

I recently had the opportunity to meet Rocky Braat, the subject of an amazing documentary called “Blood Brother,” winner of both the Audience and Grand Jury Prize at Sundance 2013.  The film tells the story of a disillusioned young American … Continue reading

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Baby Olive Ridley Sea Turtles

Sea turtles have been on this earth for 110 million years, compared to humans’ 200,000.  If my math is correct, relating Earth’s 4.6 billion-year existence to a 24-hour clock would have seen sea turtles arriving at around 11:26 pm…and humans … Continue reading

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These Student-Athletes Can Use a Hand!

Those of you who know me may recall that in Windhoek, I was quite active in teaching Namibian teens to swim, and training them to compete in multisport competitions involving swimming, running, and/or cycling.  The story of one of these … Continue reading

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The Best Chowkidar in the Universe

Way back in 2007, on one of my earliest tours in Afghanistan, I was responsible for writing these weekly situation reports, and I recall there was an open source report being published in the UK that I would regularly rely … Continue reading

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The International Coastal Cleanup: Chennai, India

Today we joined thousands of Chennaiites in taking part in the 2013 International Coastal Cleanup.  Regular readers in this blog will recognize that Chennai struggles to maintain clean beaches and waterways, like many large urban areas on the coast.  It … Continue reading

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Check out Namibia’s ‘Shishani’

One of Namibia’s rising young talents needs your help! Namibian musicians have a hard time “breaking out” – primarily as a result of Namibia’s small population – just over two million, around the same size as the city of Houston! … Continue reading

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Female Entrepreneur Launches Indiegogo Crowdfunding Campaign for Township Bicycle Touring Company

Here in Namibia, where income disparity is one of the highest in the world (THE highest, depending on whose figures you use) and unemployment hovers around 34 percent, small entrepreneurs in both the formal and informal sector are likely to … Continue reading

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Using emotion to persuade? Leave the sledgehammer out of it

I used to say in Army PSYOP that the most effective way to get inside an adversary’s decision cycle (i.e. get him to do something he wouldn’t otherwise do) is to do so in a way that your adversary doesn’t … Continue reading

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Video for a Good Cause

One of the things I’ve had the opportunity to do in Namibia is to make short videos highlighting important causes, or to show far-away donors where their money is going. A little more than half a year ago, my wife … Continue reading

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Documentary: Child Labor in Afghanistan

I wish I could say I had made this documentary on child labor in Afghanistan.  This is a story that needs to be told; the circumstances in Afghanistan have led many, many children to lose any real childhood whatsoever.  The … Continue reading

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Namibia’s “N/a’ankuse” Needs a Filmmaker

The N/a’an ku se charity lodge, wildlife-sanctuary-and-a-whole-bunch-of-other-stuff is looking for a filmmaker.  It’s not a high-paying job, but it’s a good cause and a great opportunity to hang out in Namibia and take pictures of cool stuff. The organization occupies … Continue reading

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Conservation International: Forests and Carbon in Madagascar

This is an excellent example of what organizations are doing to protect forests. In Madagascar, forests are especially important, because something close to 80% of Madagascar’s animal life is unique, and highly adapted to very specific areas and niches in … Continue reading

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Hope of Good Hope gets a Sponsor

It seems that the “Home of Good Hope”, a local soup kitchen that feeds approximately 350 desperately poor children in a local township shantytown, has gotten a Dutch “gemeente” (roughly equivalent to a county) as an official sponsor.  TAZM Pictures … Continue reading

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