Captain’s Crew Saved Thanks to Miracle Ten Dollar Bill

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Dec 3, 1998

By the time 22 Pakistani sailors had made it to safe harbor off the tip of Texas on the eve of Thanksgiving in 1998, they had no fuel, no power, no water, no passports, and were starving. They had been surviving on one hope—to make it to U.S. waters.

The Bankruptcy

The 740 foot cargo ship, the Delta Pride, and her crew were shipping bauxite for their Pakistani employer, Tri Star Shipping. Suddenly, they were left to fend for themselves in a Mexican port when Tri Star went bankrupt and severed their radio connection. Mexican shipping agents gave the crew some food and water, but took their passports and ship’s papers as collateral until harbor fees were paid, which effectively marooned the ship. For more than five months the crew lived on rainwater, boiled rice and the few fish they could pull up via milk crate.

The Prayer

Dying without any water, anchored at open sea with no one to help them, the Muslim crew began to pray. Captain Maqsood Ahmed tells what happened next. “Because we prayed to God, He sent Hurricane Mitch to us and brought many tons of water and fish! For many people the hurricane was very bad, but for us it was a blessing.”

Then the captain found a ten dollar bill in his drawer. “I don’t know how it got there. I had no money for many months!” Instantly the words,“ In God We Trust” caught his eyes. “I never paid any attention to these words but this time they were so attracting to me. I felt in my heart that this was the answer to my prayer, like advice from God…go to the United States and people can help you out there.”

The Escape

By buckets they amassed the dregs of low fuel tanks and fired a torch to heat the heavy fuel to get them started. Two days into the journey they had so many problems with the generator the captain wanted to turn back. But the engineer said, “No. We’ll keep these engines running.”

The Rescue

“It was a real escape story!” said Captain Eddie Max Stovall, III, from Port Isabel, Texas, who heard their pleas for help on Thanksgiving Eve. He called them back on his radio and within a few hours had turned it into a rescue story. He formed a coalition of locals, the Propeller Club of the United States and the Int’l Seamans Club to collect $500.00 worth of food and water, which he delivered to them the next morning in his boat. Stovall told Good News Network they were so weak from hunger, “They couldn’t even lift up the heaving line and the gallon of water attached.”

As a seaman, Stovall’s heart went out to them. His bride’s did too. Just married that same week, she felt strongly that the homesick sailors, who had been away from Pakistan for 18-27 months, should get a chance to talk to their families again. So they hired a radio operator to patch 22 calls home. Ahmed recalls, “Families were crying, children were crying because they didn’t know if we were alive or dead.” The marine operator then called the Stovalls back to say his boss would cover the charges.

“This is just… you know, people don’t believe in miracles. But I believe,” said Maqsood Ahmed, “I believe now!”

Investors were found to pay the necessary attorneys to place liens on the ship, the first step in selling it to raise the two years back wages due the crew and money to transport them back home. The process will force them to rely on their friends in Port Isabel for another 2-6 weeks.

“We’ve Come Home”

For the 36 year-old captain, the ordeal has strengthened his faith in God. He cites the example set by the United States, “Many countries believe in God but they don’t declare it on their currency!”

The ordeal has also sealed his love for Americans. “There’s a feeling that we’ve come to our home,” he told GNN. “This is a country of immigrants. I’m an immigrant here! he added, with laughter.“The people are so loving and so caring.”

“We found more friendly people here than in other countries. More open-hearted. They cooked their food from home and local churches brought it. And because I came in very desperate conditions, I had nothing to give them except my love.”

All the Good Things About You

By

Sister Helen P. Mrosla

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Nov 10, 1998

trumpet playing youth BW-Flickr-S Miramontes-CC

He was in the first third grade class I taught at Saint Mary’s School in Morris, Minn. All 34 of my students were dear to me, but Mark Eklund was one in a million. He had that happy-to-be-alive attitude that made even his occasional mischievousness delightful.

Mark talked incessantly. I had to remind him again and again that talking without permission was not acceptable. What impressed me so much, though, was his sincere response every time I had to correct him for misbehaving – “Thank you for correcting me, Sister!” I didn’t know what to make of it at first, but before long I became accustomed to hearing it many times a day.

At the end of the year, I was asked to teach junior-high math. The years flew by, and before I knew it Mark was in my classroom again. He was more handsome than ever and just as polite. Since he had to listen carefully to my instruction in the “new math,” he did not talk as much in ninth grade as he had in third.

One Friday, things just didn’t feel right. We had worked hard on a new concept all week, and I sensed that the students were frowning, frustrated with themselves – and edgy with one another. I had to stop this crankiness before it got out of hand. So I asked them to list the names of the other students in the room on two sheets of paper, leaving a space between each name. Then I told them to think of the nicest thing they could say about each of their classmates and write it down.

It took the remainder of the class period to finish their assignment, and as the students left the room, each one handed me the papers.

That Saturday, I wrote down the name of each student on a separate sheet of paper, and I listed what everyone else had said about that individual. On Monday I gave each student his or her list.

Before long, the entire class was smiling. “Really?” I heard whispered. “I never knew that meant anything to anyone!” “I didn’t know others liked me so much.” The exercise had accomplished its purpose. The students were happy with themselves and one another again.

Several years later, after I returned from vacation, my parents met me at the airport. As we were driving home, my father cleared his throat as he usually did before saying something important.

“The Eklunds called last night,” he began. “Really?” I said. “I haven’t heard from them in years. I wonder how Mark is.” Dad responded quietly. “Mark was killed in Vietnam,” he said. “The funeral is tomorrow, and his parents would like it if you could attend.”

It was difficult enough at the graveside. The pastor said the usual prayers, and the bugler played taps. One by one those who loved Mark took a last walk by the coffin. As I stood there, one of the soldiers who acted as pallbearer came up to me.

“Were you Mark’s math teacher?” he asked. I nodded as I continued to stare at the coffin. “Mark talked about you a lot,” he said.

After the funeral, most of Mark’s former classmates headed to Chuck’s farmhouse for lunch. Mark’s mother and father were there, obviously waiting for me. “We want to show you something,” his father said, taking a wallet out of his pocket. “They found this on Mark when he was killed. We thought you might recognize it.”

Opening the billfold, he carefully removed two worn pieces of notebook paper that had once been taped, folded and refolded many times. I knew without looking that the papers were the ones on which I had listed all the good things each of Mark’s classmates had said about him. “Thank you so much for doing that,” Mark’s mother said. “As you can see, Mark treasured it.”

Mark’s classmates started to gather around us. Charlie smiled rather sheepishly and said, “I still have my list. It’s in the top drawer of my desk at home.”

Chuck’s wife said, “Chuck asked me to put his in our wedding album.”

“I have mine too,” Marilyn said. “It’s in my diary.”

Then Vicki, another classmate, reached into her pocketbook, took out her wallet and showed her worn and frazzled list to the group. “I carry this with me at all times,” she said without batting an eyelash. “I think we all saved our lists.”

The purpose of this essay is to encourage everyone to compliment the people you love and care about. We often tend to forget the importance of showing our affections and love. Sometimes the smallest of things, could mean the most to another. Express your love and caring by complimenting and being open with communication. We forget that life will end one day. And we don’t know when that one day will be. Tell the people you love and care for, that they are special and important. Tell them, before it is too late.

Photo credit: S Miramontes via Flickr – CC

Christmas Gifts For Stamp Collectors Aid Volcano Victims

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Good News Network

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Nov 1, 1998

For the philatelist on your holiday gift list, a stamp series commemorating famous pop musicians such as Elvis Presley and Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead, with Queen Elizabeth II’s royal cipher on each stamp, has been issued to help raise funds for the Montserrat Volcano Relief Fund.

In July 1995, the Soufriere Hills Volcano on Montserrat, British West Indies, began to spew ash and debris for the first time in about 400 years. Since then the Montserratians have been trying to cope with this continuous state of eruption. One explosion in June, 1997 killed 19 people and rendered a further 1500 homeless. Three-fourths of the island’s population is now homeless or relocated, scattered to various parts of the world with the aid of friends and families.

Montserrat is the home of Sir George Martin’s AIR Studios, where a “who’s who” of rock artists have recorded. Martin organized a concert featuring prominent musicians such as Phil Collins, Paul McCartney, Sting, Jimmy Buffet, Carl Perkins, and Eric Clapton at the Royal Albert Hall in London in 1997, with all proceeds going to help the victims of the volcano

The 1997 fully licensed limited edition stamp series commemorates Garcia, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, and Presley. The first rock stamps in the series were replications of the Woodstock Concert posters (both the ‘69 and ‘94 posters). The latest edition to Montserrat’s Music Stamp Series depicts reggae legend, Bob Marley. Others depict the volcano, the island under a total eclipse of the sun, and the relief concert.

For More Information call Westminster Stamps (508) 384-6157. You can write to Montserrat Music Stamps, P.O. Box 456, Foxboro, MA 02035, or visit their Web site: www.westminsterstamp.com

Wildlife Thrives in Restored Chicago Wetlands

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American News Service

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Oct 30, 1998

wetland Lake Erie- Photo by Nature Conservancy

The northwest corner of Chicago, framed by the lanes of traffic along Interstate 94 and State Route 14, seems an unlikely address for wildlife. But across the street from a shopping center, on the banks of the north branch of the Chicago River, lives a thriving ecosystem called Gompers Park Wetlands.

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Israeli Peace Deal Signing Leads Way To Final Settlement Talks

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Good News Network

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Oct 23, 1998

President Clinton pushed for an agreement and finally got one between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Yasir Arafat after nine days of sometimes all-night negotiations with Clinton and Jordon’s King Hussein offering a final push at the secluded Wye River Plantation on Maryland’s Chesapeake Bay.

In a signing ceremony in the East Room of the White House, Israel agreed to withdraw from an additional 13% of occupied territory on the West Bank. Arafat vowed to do “everything in my power” to maintain security and safety for every Israeli, so that, “no Israeli mother will have to worry when their child is late returning home.” A month’s worth of efforts by the State Department and the White House culminated in the land-for-peace-deal, which marked the first time in over 17 months that the two sides have talked.

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The Doctor is a Clown?!?

By

BILL ASENJO

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Oct 10, 1998

Do you like the academy award-winning actor Robin Williams? Does free medical care sound like a good idea to you? How about a movie starring Robin Williams based on the true story of a doctor who since 1971 has given free medical care?

The movie Patch Adams, released by Universal Pictures in December, 1998, is based on a real-life doctor, Hunter “Patch” Adams, M.D., who has been providing humor along with free holistic health care for thousands of patients.

Understanding the healing power of laughter, Patch often arrives for appointments in a clown outfit.

For Adams, health lies not in the absence of disease, but in a “happy, vibrant, exuberant life.” Describing his profession, he says, “If you like people, if you like human interaction, medicine is enchanting. The ideal patient is an intimate friend for life… Maybe intimacy is what life is all about.” He adds, “I love people; and medicine is simply friend after friend after friend.”

“We never charged money, or carried malpractice insurance; believing that these are the horror of a modern medical practice,” said Adams. The work was supported by part time jobs. We found that the joy of practicing medicine unencumbered is so great that it is even worth paying for!

Patch helped found the Gesundheit! Institute in West Virginia. A model for solving the problems of health care delivery, the Institute is a non-profit, holistic health care community. In 1994, Patch was honored with the Institute of Noetic Sciences Award for Creative Altruism.

Now, about the movie: Described as a drama/ comedy, it focuses on five years of the doctor’s early life. It stars Robin Williams as Patch Adams, Monica Potter, and Peter Coyote. Patch was invited to spend a week with Robin and his family at their home so that Robin could study him for the role.

“Robin is the actor I wanted,” said Patch. During his visit, they were two of a kind, as they roamed the hallways clowning for very sick children at U.C. San Francisco Hospital.

Tom Shadyac, the director, co-producers Mike Farrell (TV MASH fame), and Marsha Williams (Robin’s wife), and Robin all say they want the movie to be about, “joyful, relentless service in a humorous context.”

The doctor hopes the film and surrounding publicity will help raise money for the ongoing construction of the 40-bed medical facility and hospital on his 31 acres in West Virginia, and the Gesundheit! Institute, where care, not cost, will always be the only concern.

WATCH the trailer below —and get more information contact the Gesundheit! Institute, visit their website at PatchAdams.org

(Written by Bill Asenjo, PhD candidate, The University of Iowa)

17 Year-Old Out To Prove That Guys Are Not Idiots!

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Good News Network

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Oct 10, 1998

Rob Sowell, 17, has always loved children. Even when he was in elementary school, he gave up recesses to watch the smaller kids while their teachers stepped out. But he feels as a teenager that society unfairly views with disfavor the expressing of his love…Rob set out to change things.

When he tried to become a babysitter parents resisted hiring him. One mom confessed to Rob that she didn’t like hiring male-sitters. But he was her last resource.

That night while getting Kris, 7, ready for bed he realized that Andrew, 5, was missing. Rob tells it like this: “We couldn’t find him so I put a jacket on Kris and brought him outside with me. With a flashlight in one hand and Kris in the other, I looked in every backyard and bush. I went to Andrew’s school directly behind the house. I saw him walking towards me and I started shouting, ANDREW…but he wouldn’t answer. When he got about 5 feet in front of me and I was ready to carry him home, I noticed his eyes were shut.”

He recalled his sociology class project about sleep disorders. It cautioned, “Never touch or disrupt a person that is sleep-walking as it may cause harm. Direct the person home, not physically but verbally.”

“So I did,” exclaimed Rob, “And we were Home Sweet Home again in no time. Later Kris told his parents how his “favorite babysitter,” as he calls me, was able to handle the situation. A newspaper article appeared in the Niagara Falls Review interviewing him about the incident. Rob reports, “Ever since then, parents in my city trust male-sitters to babysit and I proved the fact that guys could be as responsible with children as girls are.”

(Submitted by Rob Sowell, Niagara Falls, ONT, Canada)

UPS Sends Senior Managers Into Hell’s Kitchen to Help Poor

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Good News Network

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Oct 9, 1998

Feeding in soup kitchen-Terry Brown UPS employee award winner

Call it a crash course in “The Shocking Facts of Life 101”, when United Parcel Service executives from around the country are air-dropped into Hell’s Kitchen of New York, or soup lines in Chicago, or the rural poverty of McAllen, TX or Chattanooga, TN.

These white-collar execs learn about poverty, hunger, and disease by living and working among inner city and rural poor, where they are required to use their problem solving skills to help make a difference.

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Operation Smile Turning Disfigured Faces into Smiling Faces

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Good News Network

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Sep 1, 1998

In 16 years, Operation Smile has treated over 45,000 children and young adults with deformities in the U.S. and abroad, offering hope and changing the face of the world one smile at a time. Founded by Dr. William Magee and his wife, Kathleen, the group has been turning deformed faces into smiling faces in countries all over the world, donating $28 million in medical services each year.

Romania-

This July, 60 Operation Smile volunteers joined a two-week mission to Romania and treated 160 patients. Since 1991, more than 700 surgeries have been performed in Romania – with a great deal of care going to the country’s many abandoned and orphaned children.

Morocco-

In August, nurses, doctors and technicians came from the U.S., Canada, Italy, and the Middle East for the first-ever OpSmile mission to Morocco, offering training programs for local medical staffs, and care for 126 patients. One 27-year-old man who grew a mustache to cover his cleft lip burst into tears after seeing his new smile, repaired just in time for his marriage ceremonies.

Thailand–

On October 10, a successful 10-day mission to Thailand concluded after surgeries on 167 patients. One of them, Som Namwong was a 77-year old poor farmer with a horribly disfiguring cleft lip. The medical team was delighted when the kind-faced man was chosen to receive surgery. When his cleft lip was repaired he was dubbed ‘Handsome.’ He told them that the Thai people believe that if a person lives a good life, he will be allowed to return for another life. Som said he would like to return in a life where he could speak English- so he can speak with Operation Smile to express his joy.

The Smile Train in China

The Smile Train is a new vehicle in Operation Smile’s quest to help children in developing countries. With full support of the government and U.S. Companies doing business there, The Smile Train volunteer medical teams will visit small villages in China. Working side by side with local surgeons for two weeks, the team will operate on hundreds of children and provide extensive surgical training and education for the local medical community.

When The Smile Train pulls out of town, it will leave behind $150,000 worth of operating room equipment and computers. In exchange for the free equipment and training, the local hospital makes a commitment to operate on one indigent child a day, for free. The hospitals will be supported with missions and supplies to help them keep that promise. After five years, local professionals will be performing 12 times as many surgeries as The Smile Train – an important step toward self-sufficiency

Youth Groups Raise Money, Awareness

Op Smile has its own youth club that not only raises funds and awareness, but trains youth to help on Medical Missions. Like two New Jersey high school juniors who were part of the Thailand team.

Melissa Fogg and Seung Shin from Lawrence High School,with support and guidance from their club sponsor, Christine Stockton, a New Jersey teacher – played with the children to entertain and distract them from their upcoming surger-ies. They play games, blow bubbles and draw pictures with children of all ages. They traveled to day care centers and taught many Thai children the proper way to brush their teeth.

Operation Smile’s sixth annual Youth Leadership Conference, held in Salt Lake City from July 31-Aug. 5, attracted about 370 high school and college students from 22 states and eight countries for a rigorous week of activities, which included speakers, educational workshops with medical professionals, team-building games and physical challenges (white-water rafting and ropes courses). At the end of the conference, the youths held a three-hour dance marathon, bringing in more than $18,000 through pledges and passing a hat.

(Visit Operation Smile on the Web)

Florida Firefighters Honored On the Internet

By

Good News Network

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Aug 30, 1998

Firefighters in Dallas, SMU-TV video clip

The men and women who fought the fires in Florida this summer are heroes (and Good Samaritans). Here are some excerpts from Florida’s Internet sites expressing the gratitude felt toward the firefighters who saved homes and lives…

THANK YOU!…. to the firefighters who stayed after everyone pulled back, and kept our house from burning. The thermometer locked up at 158F on the front porch. You guys and girls are truly heroes. Our family is forever indebted to you for what you have done for us. You will always be in our thoughts and prayers. — The Shaffer family

At times, the smoke was so thick you couldn’t see our cars in the drive, and ash covered everything…. We could have lost everything without the efforts of these wonderful people who left their loved ones at home to literally keep us out of the fire…. THANK YOU FROM ALL OF US! –Roselyn Shiver

I would like to thank any firefighter that was in Palm Coast for saving my and my friends’ houses!!! You were tired, but still fighting!!! The fire was so close even the grass all burned up!! I can’t believe how hot it must be if the bottom of my friend’s roof was melted!!! –Al Volt.

This morning I saw a report of a group of firefighters from S.C. who took up a collection to buy a wagon to replace the one that was burned in the fire that belonged to a 3-year-old boy. It brought tears to my eyes. As if they didn’t have enough to do…they wanted to make the little boy happy. Everyone in the country is proud of the magnificent job you’re doing!–Vicki Strykowski, Plainfield, Ill.

My daughter came over to my house in tears and was saying she left my son-in-law up on the roof with a water hose as fire was threatening the area they lived in. Within the hour, my son-in-law arrived and said the fire was coming through the woods in a wall of flame. He left his house as three fire trucks pulled up, he thought there was no way that his house could be saved…. They were allowed to go back the next evening and lo and behold there was absolutely no damage. Our heartfelt thanks go out to all the heroes who fought that fire, and also to their families who gave and gave. May God bless all of you.–Ben O’Steen

Chefs Give Swordfish a Break

By

American News Service

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Aug 20, 1998

Chefs across the country are taking swordfish off the menu. The chefs have nothing against swordfish, always a popular restaurant entree. Rather, by voluntarily imposing a temporary boycott, they hope to ensure the fish’s future.

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Mist on the Lake is Like Our Consciousness

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Good News Network

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Aug 16, 1998

I am meditating on our waterfront patio. A chilly summer’s dawn has created a thick mist moving swiftly over the warm lake. It seems to be frantically searching the surface.

Then, a swath of golden sunlight slides through a break in the tall trees around the next bend and reaches for the water. It commences the mist to rise there, into its warmth. As if by unseen fingers, the mist is gently pulled up. In s l o w m o t i o n it spirals higher. Peacefully it is stretching, thinning, becoming one with all the air. And more mist moves in beneath. All the mist on the lake is being drawn to the patch of sunshine and its dance of release.

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Sage In Toyland: Slinky CEO Cares About Her Employees

By

Jeanne Marie Laskas

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Jul 25, 1998

I had to call Betty. I hadn’t talked to her in a while. I had met Betty a few years ago when I toured her factory in Hollidaysburg, Pa., a blip of a town tucked into the folds of the Allegheny Mountains. Betty’s factory, James Industries, is where the world-famous Slinky is made. Betty’s husband, Richard, invented the Slinky 51 years ago. Betty came up with the name. At 77, she’s still running the company.

As soon as I met Betty I wanted to adopt her as a hero. So I did.

Anyway, I needed to call her because I was worried. I had just read an Associated Press news story about Betty and her Slinky family. Particularly the Slinky dog, which made it to the big screen in “Toy Story.” Good Movie. Great movie, in fact. People went nuts. People rushed right out and bought talking Buzz Lightyears, stuffed Woody the Cowboys, special edition Mr. Potato Heads. All the toys from the movie sold like crazy over Christmas.

Except the Slinky dog. Why not the Slinky dog? Because it wasn’t available.

Shame on the company. That was the tone of the Associated Press news story.

As if Betty James had committed a mortal sin against merchandising. How could any self- respecting business miss out on its one chance to profit from a trend handed down by Hollywood itself? A toy industry analyst was quoted as saying, “When Disney is ready to roll, you’d better be ready too.”

I thought, Poor Betty. I wondered if she was all curled up in a ball of public embarrassment. So I called her, feeling the way you do when offering condolences to a friend.

What happened? I asked.

“Mold Troubles,” she said. The original Slinky dog had been out of production for about five years, and she wanted the new one to look exactly like the one in the movie. “And oh, it is cute,” she said. “Wait till you see it. It’s tan with a yellow snout.” She said the dog should hit stores by the end of this month.

Wasn’t she upset about missing out on the zillions of dollars that the dog could have brought in?

Was she upset she didn’t get it out for Christmas?

“I feel bad for the children,” she said. “But they’ll get it in time.”

I thought: children? I said: “I mean aren’t you upset that you missed out on the buying hysteria associated with the movie?”

“Oh, these people are working very hard,” she said. “I can’t get upset with them.”

I thought: people? I’m talking profits here. Wasn’t she upset about missing out on the zillions of dollars that the dog could have brought in?

“Oh that.” She laughed. “I can’t get upset about those things. Really, dear. Life is much too short.”

I thought: Duh. And I remembered what it was about Betty James that had so captivated me in the first place.

Growing up, all she ever wanted was a family. She fell in love with Richard, got married and had six kids. Richard, an engineer, invented the Slinky, made a lot of money. Life was good.

She could have caved in. But she didn’t.

But then Richard met some strange people. One day in 1960, he announced he was up and moving to Bolivia. He had joined a religious cult, had handed over a lot of money to it. He left Betty with a bankrupt company, six kids and a shattered heart.

She could have caved in. But she didn’t. She paid off the bills within four years, sending along thank you notes to people for waiting so long. And more than that, she ran a business with a heart.

James Industries became quite profitable. Toy conglomerates offered to buy the Slinky from Betty. “Oh, I was wooed by some of the best,” she would say. “And if I sold, I’d be much better off now. Much better.” But she didn’t. She refused to close the factory. “How could I turn my back on the people who had helped me survive?”

Even now, she could do a lot of things to increase profits. She could downsize. She could outsource to some country with cheap labor. She could make the Slinky smaller, or out of cheaper steel. But she doesn’t. “Slinky is like your child, and you don’t exploit your child.”

In 1945, a Slinky cost $1. You can still get one for less than $2. “My theory is, if it’s a child’s toy, make it affordable.”

I asked her if she’d read the AP news story about the Slinky dog. “It was silly, wasn’t it?” she said. “Honestly, if it was good news they wouldn’t have taken the time.”

Then we drifted off the subject. We caught up. She told me that her two old Yorkies, Mork and Mindy, finally died.

I told her I got a new dog, too. My dog’s name is Betty. I wasn’t aware I was naming her after anybody. It’s funny the way heroes just get into your system.

(Used with kind permission of Jeanne Marie Laskas – January 28, 1996, the Washington Post Magazine)

Basketball Player Dikembe Mutombo Gives $2 Million to Congo Hospital

By

Good News Network

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Jul 6, 1998

Atlanta Hawks center Dikembe Mutombo has announced that he will donate $2 million toward the building of a planned $44 million hospital and medical center in his home town of Kinshasa, Congo (formerly Zaire). The announcement was made at a June 26 dinner kicking-off the fundraising of the Dikembe Mutombo Foundation, which is planning and building the hospital.

The basketball star created the foundation last year to direct attention and funds to health care concerns in Congo, where children die routinely of diseases like polio, diphtheria, and tetanus that have virtually disappeared in developed countries with widely available immunization programs. Infections like typhoid, caused by poor sanitary conditions, are also a serious threat to children and adults.

”I’ve had an opportunity to live very well here in America – and to succeed,” said Mutombo. “But my success would be pointless if I forgot to look back at where I came from and help those who are still struggling for basic medical care.”

Mutombo hopes to break ground on the primary care hospital in the summer of 2001. An elementary school and recreational facility are also planned.

UPDATE: READ more about the finished hospital and the athlete who built it after years of struggle.

(Submitted by Bill Asenjo, Iowa City -from a story by Warren, Rachel. “Dikembe Mutombo’s Congo Crusade.” Washington Post Online 6/29/98)

Extraordinary Speech by President Clinton in China

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Good News Network

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Jul 4, 1998

President Clinton’s 10-day trip to China, the world’s most populous nation and second largest economy, has concluded.

For the Chinese, the trip was nothing short of extraordinary. They listened as the American president spoke to them in a live nationwide address, uncensored and uninterrupted, about the importance of the freedom of expression as a cornerstone of their future stability. The central communist government listened while he openly proclaimed that the 1989 crackdown of pro-democracy demonstrators was wrong. And they listened to Clinton on a radio call-in show answering questions of all types.

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Bank Supports Green Initiatives in Pacific Northwest

By

American News Service

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Jul 4, 1998

money-hundreds-fanned-alvimann-morguefile

A new bank in a seacoast town on the mouth of the Columbia River in Washington State is taking a cue from urban experiments that use seed money to regenerate communities. The difference is in the definition of community. In this case, the ecological communities of shellfish, salmon, forests and dunes.

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Post Cereal Feeds the Needy

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Good News Network

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Jun 28, 1998

In celebration of their 100th anniversery, Post Cereal Company (of Battle Creek, Michigan), in collaboration with Second Harvest, is feeding America’s hungry. “We’re not throwing a big party or producing commemorative boxes,” says a Post promotional booklet, “Instead, we’ve decided to celebrate by donating our cereal to feed the hungry.”

The committment is to feed one million people with 100,000 boxes of Post cereal and to raise awareness of hunger in America. The four page mailer lists ways to help feed the hungry in your area, including, volunteering at soup kitchens, sorting food at local food banks, participating in local food drives at churches and supermarkets, and raising or donating money. Second Harvest is the largest domestic hunger-relief organization in America.

83-Year-Old Reconnects Two Koreas

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Good News Network

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Jun 28, 1998

The founder of the Hyundai conglomerate, a self-made billionaire who left North Korea in 1933 at the age of 18 to seek his fortune, returned on June 16 driving 500 fattened cattle in 50 open trucks, an offering to help feed his famine-ravaged homeland. Another 500 cattle were expected in later weeks along with a donation of 50,000 tons of corn.

Chung Ju Yung, 83, led the convoy of cattle from his adopted country of South Korea across the demilitarized zone to become the first civilian to cross without a government escort over the heavily-guarded border between the two Koreas since World War II.

North Korea had refused humanitarian aid from the south even when in desperate need. Chung was raised the son of a poor farmer in what is now North Korea. His homecoming and donation, estimated to be worth over $10 million, is a “remarkable symbol of improving relations,” according to Kevin Sullivan of the Washington Post Foreign Service.

“I sincerely hope that my visit to North Korea will not remain an isolated event, but will lay the cornerstone of reconciliation and peace between North and South,” Chung said before embarking on his eight-day visit.

The two countries, which both approved Chung’s plan, have been in a relationship of deep hostility until recently. The inauguration of Kim Dae Jung in February, 1998 has marked the initiation of Kim’s “Sunshine Policy” that calls for moderated efforts aimed toward constructive engagement and tolerance.

Many more business leaders are now allowed to pursue collaborations with the north. Some North Korean literature, music and video is being welcomed into the south for the first time alongside other exports.

Relations are improving already between their citizens, as illustrated by Sullivan’s reporting that, during the first cattle crossing, some of the drivers (wearing Hyundai coveralls) were nervous about setting foot in North Korea. But their nerves were calmed when their northern counterparts gave them each a gift bag containing bottles of liquor and cartons of cigarettes. Then, “It was a natural feeling to talk to them,” said driver Son Bu Ik. “They are just like us”!

Nursing Homes: Transforming Homes for the Dying into Homes for the Living …the Eden Alternative

By

BILL ASENJO

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Jun 24, 1998

When Bill Thomas graduated from Harvard Medical School he had no intention of working in a nursing home — too depressing. “I went out of my way to avoid nursing homes,” says Dr. Thomas.

But Fate intervened, and Thomas became medical director of a home in New York state. Disturbed by the helplessness, boredom and loneliness he witnessed, Thomas wondered if these places for the dying couldn’t be transformed into places for the living.

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United Colors of Benetton Offers The Hopeful Picture of Life between Palestinians and Israelis

By

Good News Network

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Jun 20, 1998

The fashion industry is not usually associated with social or political conscience… Benetton is an exception.

Benetton is known for its innovative advertising, where “issues not clothes” play the lead role. Their slogan, United Colors of Benetton, appears alongside multi-colored faces reflecting the rainbow of customers in 122 countries.

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