Sierra Leone :: Part 2 :: The Reason

So why the heck did I go to Sierra Leone?! And why didn't many people know anything about the trip?

Well, it was a bit of a quickly planned trip, actually there was barely enough time to get the necessary shots. As for why, it was a visioning trip to help determine the needs of a children's home. My travel partner was Nolan Watson of Nation's Cry. I acted as the second pair of eyes as we attempted to determine the needs of International D.O.V.E. on behalf of Nation's Cry.

D.O.V.E. has been operating in Sierra Leone for nearly 20 years enduring the entire period including the various wars and coups that the country experienced. D.O.V.E.'s initial operations consisted of a foster program "Up Country" Sierra Leone. Working with the S.L. Ministry of Social Welfare D.O.V.E. cares for 44 children who have been placed with foster parents and those with the greatest need have been brought to the Village of Hope. D.O.V.E.'s Village of Hope is situated near the town of Regent on the outskirts of Sierra Leone's capital city of Freetown. The village is situated on a 12 acre plot of land which includes numerous fruits and vegatables. The village currently houses 23 children and as increased funding permits that number may grow.

At D.O.V.E.'s Village of Hope the children "have these things provided for them: Food, clothing, medicine, education, and all their practical needs. The goal is to provide them with a warm, loving home and family so that they become well educated, well adjusted young adults who can further their education and eventually become an asset to their own country by using their skills and training to bring better living conditions for their own people. We know that not all the children will return to help their country but DOVE's goal is to give each of them a chance at life that they would not have had otherwise."

Despite these noble goals, D.O.V.E. International has remained quite underfunded. This is especially surprising given the fact that Nolan Watson, CA, CFA, has gone through every Canadian Charity registered with the CRA to determine which had the least amount of administrative waste. D.O.V.E. was that charity.

SL Update :: Part 1

Sierra Leone :: Part 1 :: The Country

Sierra Leone is on the Western horn of Africa an area often referred to as the Rice Coast. The country is thoroughly marred by it passed as over a span of nearly 40 years the country so near constant political instability, coups, and civil war.

Sierra Leone was first known to Westerners through the slave trade. The island's illicit activities were started in 1670 and the fortress became the largest slave passage on the West Coast of Africa up until it was shutdown by British Parliament in 1808. The slaves that came through Bunce were prized for their rice growing skills and techniques and were highly sought after for the southern coast of the United States. The 1997 movie Amistad is a story about slaves from Bunce Island.

In the late 1800's the capital of Freetown became a British Crown colony and the rest of the country a British Protectorate. At this time the country began to be re-settled by many former slaves, many from various tribes and areas. This melding of cultures, tribes, and languages has created a unique kaleidescope in Sierra Leone and helped to create the Creo (or Kreole) language that is spoken in the Freetown area.

In 1961 Sierra Leone gained its independance and became a full member of the British Commonwealth. Unfortunately since that time there has been few periods of peace and political stability. The country has been mired in coup after military coup, civil war, war, and more. The various instabilities got to their worst in the late 90's. Stories of child soldiers high on drugs and forced to slaughter thousands of innocent people are far to clear in recent history. Fortunately early in the 2000's a UN lead peace keeping force came to the country.

2002 saw the war officially announced to be over and May brought peaceful elections were the most recent president from before the war got to its' worst re-elected with a 70% majority. The years following that election saw much stability return to the region and in fact a second peaceful and democratic election was recently held, in September, and a new president, Ernest Bai Koroma, was elected on a platform of reigning in corruption.
Time will tell where Sierra Leone goes from here but there are several encouraging things to watch. A large electric plant is currently under construction and is anticipated to be completed in the near time. Foreign investment which for 2006 was approximately $5M USD is growing rapidly and there is news of a $500M beach & golf resort being built near Freetown! The stamping out of corruption will also be something that will have to be watched closely...

SL Update :: Part 2

Black Monday: Will it Happen Again?!

Today is the 20th Anniversary of Black Monday that saw the second largest single day declines on major world stock markets. The US market declined by more than 22%, the Canadian market by a similar amount, the UK by more than 26%, Spain by more than 31%, Australia by nearly 42%, and the Hong Kong market by more than 45%!!!!

History of Black Monday can be found here.

Some people, such as Warren Buffet, have commented that they believe a crash like that of '87 or for that matter like that of 1929 which was at the start of the Great Depression could happen again. What do you think?!

I alluded to Black Monday in a previous post after Alan Greenspan had alluded to a possible US recesssion.

Green Travel Going Virtual...

Forecasters are starting to predict that in about 10 years time real travel will be largely replaced by virtual travel as the desire and need to be eco conscious alters travel as we know it. But how is this affecting travel today?

Two interesting developments come from a couple of notable airlines: Air Canada and Virgin. Air Canada who has been voted the best airline in North America, to the confusion of many of its' customers, has recently introduced a voluntary carbon offsetting program. This revolutionary program allows fliers to purchase a carbon credit add-on if their conscience leads them to do so. This additional fee is handled by ZeroFootprint a non-profit environmental organization that will take your 'donation' and use it to plant trees within British Columbia.

Another interesting development is that Virgin founder Sir Richard Branson has started a new venture, Virgin Green Fund, in an effort to seek to find and use renewable fuels that are economically feasible and environmentally friendly. The Virgin Green Fund was started with $400M in seed money and will continue to receive profits from both the Virgin Airline and train businesses over the next 10 years. I've read that the anticipated figure is an additional $3B of investment but heard Branson quote a figure of $10B while on Martha Stewart's show.

Maybe we'll still be able to fly in 10 years. Let's hope so, it's a big world out there.

Some carbon offset examples:
Vancouver, BC to London, UK - 1.6T of CO2 per flight - $25.60CDN
Vancouver, BC to Maui, HI - .9T of CO2 per flight - $14.40CDN
Vancouver, BC to Calgary, AB - .2T of CO2 per flight - $3.20CDN

Money Wasting, Money Wasting

If you haven't taken the time to keep a detailed account of your daily expenditures for a month (or a week at least) you really should do it as it may really open up your eyes to where all that money goes that you supposedly receive from those twice-monthly cheques. And as I'm sure you're well aware, it's not the monthly rent, car payment, cell phone bill, etc. that get ya (although they certainly do their part), it's the little things that really add up to suck the savings out from under you.

It's been called many things but most notably in recent years it's been trademarked as The Latte Factor by David Bach author of many best-selling financial literacy books. I would highly recommend you read at least one, my wife and I read Smart Couples Finish Rich. The title sounds rather petty and materialistic but one of the foundations of his financial planning approach is to view your choices based on your values.

Today I read an article outlining what various 'normal' expenditures can add up to including unused memberships, interest on credit cards, and daily lunches out during the work week. Here's a couple examples (Note figures are based on U.S. prices... add 20% for CDN):

1. Coffee -- According to the National Coffee Association, the average price for brewed coffee is $1.38. There are roughly 260 weekdays per year, so buying one coffee every weekday morning costs almost $360 per year.

4. Bottled water from convenience stores -- A 20-ounce bottle of Aquafina bottled water costs about $1. One bottle of water per day costs $365 per year. It costs the environment plenty, too.

5. Manicures -- The Day Spa Magazine Price Survey of 2004 found that the average cost of a manicure is $20.53. A weekly manicure sets you back about $1,068 per year.

7. Weekday lunches out -- $9 will generally cover a decent lunch most work days. If you buy rather than pack a lunch five days a week for one year, you shell out about $2,350 a year.

9. Interest charges on credit card bills -- According to a survey released at the end of May 2007, the median amount of credit card debt carried by Americans is $6,600. Rate tables on Bankrate.com indicate that fixed interest rates on a standard card average 13.44 percent. Making the minimum payment each month, it will take 250 months (almost 21 years) to pay off the debt and cost $4,868 in interest. Ouch!

The rest of the Top 10 Money Drains.

The true cost of television...

I just read an article about the 'real' costs of watching television. They broke down the 'start-up' costs, added in all of the reoccurring monthly charges, accounted for the increased consumerism, and factored in the opportunity costs of all that 'wasted' time. The figures are pretty astounding... from the article:

"So what does this all add up to? Say you're 25 years old and you initially spend $2,000 for your TV, DVD player, entertainment cabinet and gaming system after getting your first job. Add in monthly costs of $100 for cable, $10 for electricity use, $20 for renting movies, $25 for buying games and $20 for an occasional pay-per-view event, and you're looking at $175 a month. Add in another $525 a month extra you spend due to the influence of commercials if you are the average person, and you are costing yourself $700 a month watching TV."

Using an 8% growth rate, only compounded annually, that $700/month would grow to more than $3.7M by the time you're 70 years old if you ceased watching TV at age 25.

Of course what's not considered here is that from time to time you may learn something from television that actually saves or makes you money and one may also derive some stress relief or relaxation from their time in front of the screen.

Article Link.