[Dialogue] Fwd: Maasai

[Sharon Fisher]

Wonderful to hear about your experiences and encounters with others, Dick.
Current realities actually happening give us courage to carry on. Thank you.

Blessings,
Sharon

saf1220 at gmail.com
c: 503.807.7385

On Sun, Nov 9, 2025, 8:39 AM Richard Alton via Dialogue <
dialogue at lists.wedgeblade.net> wrote:

> *The Smoke That Thunders*
>
> The ICA has tried to have a global conference in Africa for many years and
> now we have finally done it. People from 20 countries (10 from Africa)
> gathered in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, to look at how we all are responding
> to the times we are living in. At these conferences one is always shocked
> by the people one meets and the projects one visits. Although the Falls,
> the smoke that thunders, is amazing.
>
>  I was struck on the first day by a Maasai women fully dressed in her
> tribal garb.  We broke into our working groups, and I found we were in the
> same group, Climate Change.  Her name was Josephine Ndirias from Kenya. She
> turns out to be the Executive Director of the *Mukogodo Girls Empowerment
> program*. It turns out she is from Nanyuki, Kenya. I had been to Nanyuki
> to visit the ICA Canada project, ilnqwesi, and had lunch with one of the
> Maasai leaders, Saaya, who turned out to be Josehine’s cousin. “My
> goodness, what a small world.” It turns out that Josehine’s work is the
> continuation of the Maasai work started by by Asha Spencer and Miriam
> Patterson many years ago. Asha and Miriam were there in Nanyuki for a year.
> We spend the next couple of days chatting about people we knew- Josehine’
> still talks with Miriam Patterson on a regular basis. And we went through
> all the people I use to know: the late Vice President Biwott who use to
> demand money and vehicles from ICA if we cared about our lives. I was
> totally startled by Josphine and our meeting. We could have spoken together
> for the whole Conference. Conferences do that for you- the people you meet!
> Over 100 people to meet in person. Wow, 4 from China and one from Hong Kong
> plus 15 from Nepal.
>
> But not only the people but the projects you visit! We visited *Ele
> Collection* (www.elecollection.co) whose purpose is to Remove all
> Plastics. They have women plastic bottle collectors all over the Town/Park
> collecting bottles. They pay them by the pound. The Ele-Collections says
> its goal is to clear Victoria Falls and the National Park of Plastics.  Ele
> processes the plastic bottles into building and road material which they
> sell. This all came about from the owner and a friend walking in the
> National Park and being attacked by an elephant. The owner’s friend was
> killed. They finally killed the elephant. When they opened the elephant’s
> stomach, they found it was full of plastic bottles. No wonder the elephant
> was mad! Ele Collection is about saving the animals from the scourge of
> plastics. Ele is a business who gets a lot of support from local companies
> and is constantly expanding. We were all struck by the methodology and
> skills shown. They claim they are the only local plastic re-cycling system
> in the world. We had to come all the way to Victoria Falls to find them.
>
> On the way to Victoria Falls I read two books. Just finished Paul
> Kingsnorth book, *Against the Machine, on the Unmaking of Humanity*. He
> points out that we are facing “increasingly impossible lives in the
> high-tech globalized world that has resulted from the consumer economy”. We
> are slowly being capture by a world that is unreal and losing a sense of
> being human. This second book, *Inspiring Transformative Change*, is on
> image shift and its focus on enabling group processing is what will allow
> us to rediscover the real world of personal interaction and human
> consciousness. The *Change* book is written by Elise Packard and Jane
> Stallman. It will come out in early 2026.
>
> Great Conference- the people and projects were worth it. Conferencing is
> an amazing way to find the Human Element in Global Development! Go Africa,
> where we all find our roots!
>
> Dick Alton, lives with ICA’s Greenrise Community, helps manage ICA USA’s
> Global Fund and way too involved in the Methodist Church’s Net Zero by
> 2050. Getting ready for his 84th birthday.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> *Southern Africa is gifted with *
>
> On Sun, Nov 9, 2025 at 10:29 AM Richard Alton <richard.alton at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>>
>
> --
> Richard H. T. Alton
> ICA Global Fund
> United Methodist Creation Care
> The Last Chapter
> T: 773.344.7172
> richard.alton at gmail.com
> Make Plain the Vision, Habakkuh 2:2
> Won't you be my neighbor?
> _______________________________________________
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> Dialogue at lists.wedgeblade.net
> http://lists.wedgeblade.net/listinfo.cgi/dialogue-wedgeblade.net
>
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