Today we watched the short documentary film Invisible Children, which has an associated a nonprofit organization to help children in war-torn southern Uganda. These children are constantly at risk of being conscripted into militias, so they cannot sleep in their rural homes, and travel into cities each night to avoid abduction. Our friend Greg Kendall-Ball is going to Gulu, Uganda in January to shoot photos for Invisible Chilren, and is accepting donations to support his trip.

If you haven’t seen the film, you might not know that it was made by three American college students, who didn’t know what they were going to do when they arrived in Africa. Invisible Children happened, and now their organization provides education and mental health care to help re-integrate former child soldiers into society (and prevent further abductions).

After watching Invisible Children in church today, we discussed the film and what we can do. The film bothered me because it comes from a rather arrogant, youthful American perspective. The filmmakers went to Africa to “conquer” it and fix whatever problems they encountered. Can you get any more imperialistic?

That got me thinking about actual imperialism and colonialism, which are now considered bad and wrong. Are things really any better now, though? I’m not suggesting that we go back to colonialism, but that we really look at why some things are worse now than they were under colonialism. The quality of governance comes to mind.

Again, though, it is not our job to solve another continent’s problems. We can help, but African leadership will be the ultimate source of solution to Africa’s problems. Oprah’s leadership school for girls comes to mind as a way to make a difference while encouraging local leadership.

Another question involves the proliferation of nonprofit organizations. Is it really necessary for every American who visits Africa to come home and start their own nonprofit? Doesn’t this just introduce more administrative overhead, wasting money that could be funneled into existing organizations that already have their overhead covered?

I checked and Invisible Children’s overhead is 14.6%, compared to 13.5% for World Vision. Compassion International’s is higher, at 16.2%. So, while it’s a bit silly to duplicate administrative functions for each organization, at least IC is keeping their expenses at a reasonable level (which is why, for example, Greg is raising his own support).

On the other hand, the proliferation of charities does give people a more personal connection to the work being done in other countries. For example, it’s much easier for people in Searcy to feel a part of the mission of the Kibo Group than the work of WorldVision, simply because the Kibo Group is based in Searcy (my college town).

The main problem in all of this is hubris. I too am inspired by the ambitions of the One Campaign and other groups to end extreme poverty in our generation. But it’s imperialism all over again to think that we can simply march in and fix the world’s problems.

David closed our gathering today with a prayer, in which he asked that we not be paralyzed by the complexity and difficulty of these problems. Indeed. Thoughts?

The “$100 Laptop Project,” formally known as One Laptop Per Child, has long been the holy grail of educational technology for the developing world. Led by Nicholas Negroponte, the project aims to get a laptop into the hands of every child in the developing world.

As specs for these rugged machines became public - hand-crank power, self-networking wifi - people in the developed world started to drool at the $100 price tag; alas, you had to be a government and buy a million of them to qualify. Until now.

OLPC just announced that, starting November 12, you will be able to purchase one of the green machines for yourself for $399. This also pays for a 2nd laptop, to be given to a child in the developing world. The price is, obviously, not at the $100 mark yet, but they’re working on it.

This strategy is incalculably brilliant. We can have something we want (and hey, Americans want a lot of stuff) while paying for someone in the third world to have something they need. It’s not unlike my proposal for the 100% self-tax.

You can sign up for an email reminder now at xogiving.org, and buy two laptops this Christmas. Along with Kiva, this might be the way to give this holiday season.

Friday night, Amy and I just spent the evening at home, not doing much of anything worth blogging about. Yet that’s precisely what I’m doing now. I find myself treasuring this time more lately, enjoying not doing much but catching up on life and spending a quiet evening at home.

We’ve been watching Freaks & Geeks on DVD, and I wish it had run longer than one season. It’s painfully realistic. If you were on the outside of the cool crowd in high school, you’ll get it.

On Saturday, we went on a hike with our friends David and Dante. Mt. Pilchuck is supposedly the easiest peak to summit in the Cascade range (yes, the dishwasher detergent is named after the mountains).

We found it satisfyingly steep, and the 6-mile round-trip was just about what we were looking for in a hike. It was crowded with northwesterners as well as European students, but only toward the top. The four-hour trip was strenuous on the way up, and not too bad on the descent.

The summit, though, was something to write home about. Here’s Dante and me on the summit, just below the lookout tower:

More pictures

We were literally above the clouds, in what felt like a Lord of the Rings set. The photo ops, for the brave, were nearly endless. It was a magnificent day.

This was our first hike in months, though we used to hike all the time. We have pledged to get back into hiking now that we’re out of grad school, and this was a great re-introduction to the sport.

We drove home, stopping for food and espresso in nearby Granite Falls. As on Friday, we spent the evening just doing stuff at home, and I don’t think any adventure could have compared. It’s great to be at home with Amy.

The ever-wonderful Madeline L’Engle passed away on Thursday. She was 88.

I grew up reading, and loving, the Wrinkle in Time books. She was a beautiful soul.

“Why does anybody tell a story? [It has] something to do with faith - faith that the universe has meaning, that our little human lives are not irrelevant, that what we choose or say or do matters, matters cosmically.”

May her memory be eternal.

(NYT)

Davis Wright Tremaine - you guys give lawyers a bad name.

DWT sued the Seattle School District on behalf of a group of parents and prevailed in the Supreme Court. It was a landmark decision, and a highly controversial one. DWT took the case pro bono, and there was no financial award to the plaintiffs, who were seeking (and won) the demise of the race-based tiebreaker, a Seattle School District policy that allowed the District to assign students to schools in a manner that would enhance racial diversity. All else being equal, a student who would be in the minority at a popular school would be granted preference over a student of a majority group at that school.

Suing school districts is not inherently a bad thing, and is sometimes necessary, though I won’t comment on this case.

But now DWT is seeking to recover legal fees from the school district, even though it fought the case for free. They want a staggering $1.8 million, which is several times what the district spent on its own legal fees.

This is not money that would go to the plaintiffs; it’s money that goes to the same lawyers who promised to fight the case for free. This money will not come from insurance; it will come directly from the operating budget of a public school district.

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals will decide whether to award DWT the fees; fortunately, the 9th Circuit sided with the District in the original case, though their decision was overturned by the Supreme Court.

I can’t see how this could be good PR for Davis Wright Tremaine. What kind of firm would sue a school district, supposedly for free, then try to collect fees at the expense of public education?

Now that I’m riding the bus to work again, I’m enjoying the extra (forced) time to read and think. I’m enjoying the great Windows Mobile program Bible With You, which has a free full trial version with NRSV (Google it - links are hard to add via mobile).

I’m also feeling a bit down because it’s getting darker. Actually, it’s probably more that I’m getting up early for work now, so my first waking hours aren’t in full daylight.

Coping with the lack of winter sunlight in the northwest, particularly in rainy Seattle, is a perpetual challenge. It leads to outright depression in many people, a general sense of sadness in others, and at least a time of gloomy introspection in me.

Perhaps it’s good to ponder the fundamental questions of life. Am I living the way I should? Am I happy with my life, the way things are? Am I satisfied with my efforts at improving myself?

It’s also possible for this kind of thinking to lead to despair. I’m not sure if I believe in Satan, but it certainly feels as if there are active forces dragging us down, slipping doubt into the cracks that form in our lives and relationships.

This is a good time to renew a personal focus on spiritual disciplines. I feel very much like I need to do this, so I’m reading the Gospel of John on the bus. I’m taking it slow, taking time to think, not concerned with when I finish.

My bus stop is just ahead, so it’s your turn to talk now.