Accountability without authority. Work has driven me to Linkin Park on the way home and emergency donning of the soothing bedsocks upon my arrival.

I started dieting April 15, 2012. Yes, I remember the day bc I glorified it for so many years. I started bc I didn’t physically feel well a lot of the time & I struggled with body image. We all know the cure for that: DIET & EXERCISE! Right?? I posted about my journey for “accountability” and got so much positive feedback. “You look amazing! You’re such an inspiration! Can you help me too?” I was so excited bc I hadn’t ever moved my body or honored it in anyway prior to that. Fueled by the results & positive reinforcement, I kept looking for better ways to diet and exercise for a few years. Then I found CrossFit, an entire global community of dieters & exercisers looking to do as much of both as possible. Perfect! For over 5 years I learned to micro-manage every seed I put into my mouth and sweat more than I ever had in my life. I was so proud to be a woman that was strong. And I still am. But things started to change eventually.

 

Every morning I’d wait until I pooped to weigh myself naked so that I would know the REAL number. What’s this?? How did my weight go up when I paid someone to tell me exactly how much to eat?! Must have been too much broccoli. I’ll pack food to bring to the pizza party. I’ll go “super clean” before the trip, party, event, etc. Everything I learned about, I tried. When information conflicted, I hedged my bets and restricted more of it. I wanted to be the gold standard and I wasn’t going to let anything mess that up. I even became Precision Nutrition “certified” because paying people to tell me what they learned in that one book - that apparently gave them the legal right to charge people to help them restrict food without any other credentials in nutrition or psychology - wasn’t working, so I opted to just become certified myself. And then the inevitable happened... it all stopped working. No matter what I did, who I paid, the results just stopped. My body began to bloat in ways I couldn’t anticipate, no matter what I added or eliminated. Physical discomfort I didn’t know how to stop. The stress of this sent me spiraling emotionally. The only logical explanation was that I was doing something wrong, that there was something I wasn’t doing, and that I wasn’t doing enough. My mind and time were consumed with how to control my body through food & exercise. Devastated when those around me succeeded with less perceived effort than me. I gave myself no leeway.

 

In May 2017 I was in the thick of this. I had been single for about a year and was ready to start dating again. I had been strict intermittent fasting, 8-10 hours of eating & 14-16 off, no matter what. I was asked on a date by someone I was actually really excited about. We had met a few years back working a wedding together and he was really cool. We made the date for a Wednesday night. I was coaching early on Wednesdays then, which meant I needed to start eating earlier in the day. 7-5 to be exact. I decided to do this even though I knew I was going out that night. NO EXCUSES!! Unfortunately the 2 drinks I had over the 4 hour date left me absolutely drunk and spinning.

We were having a fun evening up until that point.

I didn’t feel unsafe going back to his place to sober up.

I thought I could trust him.

I was tragically mistaken.

When I came to and stopped him I remember him trying to explain why it was ok that he was doing what he was doing. He really liked me and would be my boyfriend, he said. Date rape is a terrible and confusing thing to have happen to you. It took me over a week, walking around like a zombie, and a very concerned response from a friend when I told her the story, to really understand what happened to me. I broke ties with him immediately and tried to move on. I acknowledged the truth, felt what I needed to, and opted to learn from it. That year I only shot one wedding and it was out of state. I pulled up to the venue and I see him walking towards me. Out of all the videographers they could have possibly hired, they chose him. And I worked with him. I knew I had to. I could not go up to a bride on her wedding day, as she’s getting ready, and tell her I can’t do it. I learned a lot about my strength as a woman that day.

 

I think it’s important to understand that this happened to me at a time when I least expected it to. I was, and still am, at a point in my life where I consider myself to be a very happy person. I had become self-employed and was enjoying the successes of that. I didn’t view my dieting and exercising as anything bad at the time, and took a lot of pride in my discipline and knowledge. I was happy being single and very selective about who I went out with. I was confident I’d never put myself into a dangerous position again. I felt strong and empowered. It took me a long time to realize how my dieting/exercise routine had contributed to the events of that night. That guy is 100% responsible for his actions that night. It also breaks my heart to think about that version of myself that was so afraid to eat food. A version that weighed her options and chose to drink on an empty stomach and put her trust into her date’s hands.

 

My best friend got married in August 2019, and I was thrilled to be her Maid of Honor. A very special role with a lot of responsibilities and investments. I cleaned up my eating for months beforehand, and was exclusively strict for the month leading up to the big day. By the time the wedding day came, I was happy enough with my results. I was still struggling with my body image and not looking how I felt I should have with the amount of effort I put in. All that effort paired with the time and money invested into the wedding, I became terrified that if I ate any of the food at the wedding I would either A.) get sick because I knew how my body would react to foods I hadn’t been allowing myself to eat, and/or B.) bloat up and undo all the hard work I’d put in for months to look a certain way. So when everyone else was grabbing slices from the pizza food truck, or sampling the dessert options, I was eating cucumbers and hummus at my table. I wasn’t happy about it either. I felt sorry for myself and made up for it at the open bar. I had a great time at her wedding, but know now just how much more fun and enjoyment I could have shared on this most memorable of occasions.

 

The dangers of diet culture were completely unknown and unheard of in my life until I met my friend Iona. She and her partner run a movement based community in Boston, and I fell in love with them immediately. They used to be Crossfitters so I knew I would be understood there. She would talk a little bit about Crossfit and why she wasn’t doing it anymore and why she had stopped restricting food. Sounded good for her, but I couldn’t imagine not watching what I ate. But we’d keep chatting, and followed each other on social media so I was seeing the things she was sharing on the topic. Some things she shared didn’t sound like me at all. I had never been as great as she was and didn’t feel like our stories were the same. I had started a deep mediation practice at the beginning of 2019 that started to shake the foundation of my food & body beliefs. As I listened more to her story, and as I deepened my own personal awareness, I found myself deeply resonating with her. I was having a hard time putting uncomfortable feelings into words. She recommended two books to me: The Fuck It Diet by Caroline Dooner, and Intuitive Eating by Evelyn Tribole.

 

It has been a year since I read The Fuck It Diet, and it shook me down to my core. So much of what she was describing sounded just like everything I was feeling. I felt angry at an industry I was a loyal disciple of for years. I felt ashamed of all the preaching in it’s favor I had done over the years. I felt overwhelmed in realizing that all the work I had put into optimizing my body was actually doing the opposite. I knew without a doubt that this was what my body and soul needed. A release from the confinement of diet culture. So I purchased Intuitive Eating and the accompanying workbook, and spent the last year slowly chipping away at the 10 principles of IE. In TFID she mentions that it can take 3-6 months for people to heal from disordered eating, some more and some less. I figured I’d be done nice and quick. Nope. This shit is HARD. So hard. Especially when the world shuts down 1 month into your practice and turns your world upside-down. I suffered a lot during the quarantine, and I did it silently. I couldn’t share my pain, and didn’t know how to. But I kept at it. I knew I couldn’t give up on this, too much was on the line. I moved in with my boyfriend during the pandemic which threw in a whole new twist and added challenges. I started unfollowing influencers & nutrition pages by the dozen. I utilized a food delivery service to help me take the pressure off of thinking about food so much. I was sick of it. I reached out to Iona for support. And I kept at it, even when it felt like I wasn’t making any progress. I kept at it. I knew my life depended on it.

 

Then some amazing things started to happen. I would put the pint of Ben & Jerry’s back in the fridge instead of eating it all at once. I could eat half my food at a restaurant and easily ask to bring the rest home. A package of cookies went stale in the cabinet because I just didn’t feel like eating them. I started buying new clothes that fit my body now, and even went as far as to go shopping when I felt most uncomfortable and bloated so I knew I could trust my clothes to truly bring me comfort. I can say no when I’m not hungry. I’m starting to be able to truly identify my hunger and fullness cues, and honor them. I’m starting to trust that my body knows what it’s doing and that it knows what size it wants to be. I can trust myself around food now because I know, without a doubt, that I can have it if I want to. Restriction is what leads to overeating, not the other way around. This, by far, has been the hardest but truest lesson I’ve learned in the decade I’ve spent educating myself on fitness and nutrition. I still have a lot of work to do, practice makes progress, and progress is never linear.

 

I have chosen to share this experience for a few reasons. First, the bravery of my friend sharing her vulnerable yet powerful healing experience inspired me to do the same for myself. This is the biggest hope for this project. We don’t get to choose who we influence, or how our influence is received. But we all have a story, and someone out there needs to hear YOUR story. Second, this has been one of the biggest personal items I have been working on recently and has caused a big upheaval in how I approach my life and my work. I pride myself on being openminded and allowing myself the grace to change my mind. Changing my mind on fitness and nutrition was not something I was expecting, and it is not what big diet culture wants us to believe. It is woven into our healthcare, media, and schools. Third, this is a topic I know millions of people, especially women, struggle with every single day. Fourth and final reason is the intersection of so many things in this experience. Self-worth, body image, sexism, science as a religion. Too much of what we think has been put there by someone else. My hope is that sharing my experience with diet culture, date rape, and orthorexia (eating disorder with the preoccupation with eating healthy food) that someone else will be inspired to free themselves from these cages and live life a little happier. Food CAN be neutral and our bodies do know what they’re doing.

I started dieting April 15, 2012. Yes, I remember the day bc I glorified it for so many years. I started bc I didn’t physically feel well a lot of the time & I struggled with body image. We all know the cure for that: DIET & EXERCISE! Right?? I posted about my journey for “accountability” and got so much positive feedback. “You look amazing! You’re such an inspiration! Can you help me too?” I was so excited bc I hadn’t ever moved my body or honored it in anyway prior to that. Fueled by the results & positive reinforcement, I kept looking for better ways to diet and exercise for a few years. Then I found CrossFit, an entire global community of dieters & exercisers looking to do as much of both as possible. Perfect! For over 5 years I learned to micro-manage every seed I put into my mouth and sweat more than I ever had in my life. I was so proud to be a woman that was strong. And I still am. But things started to change eventually.

 

Every morning I’d wait until I pooped to weigh myself naked so that I would know the REAL number. What’s this?? How did my weight go up when I paid someone to tell me exactly how much to eat?! Must have been too much broccoli. I’ll pack food to bring to the pizza party. I’ll go “super clean” before the trip, party, event, etc. Everything I learned about, I tried. When information conflicted, I hedged my bets and restricted more of it. I wanted to be the gold standard and I wasn’t going to let anything mess that up. I even became Precision Nutrition “certified” because paying people to tell me what they learned in that one book - that apparently gave them the legal right to charge people to help them restrict food without any other credentials in nutrition or psychology - wasn’t working, so I opted to just become certified myself. And then the inevitable happened... it all stopped working. No matter what I did, who I paid, the results just stopped. My body began to bloat in ways I couldn’t anticipate, no matter what I added or eliminated. Physical discomfort I didn’t know how to stop. The stress of this sent me spiraling emotionally. The only logical explanation was that I was doing something wrong, that there was something I wasn’t doing, and that I wasn’t doing enough. My mind and time were consumed with how to control my body through food & exercise. Devastated when those around me succeeded with less perceived effort than me. I gave myself no leeway.

 

In May 2017 I was in the thick of this. I had been single for about a year and was ready to start dating again. I had been strict intermittent fasting, 8-10 hours of eating & 14-16 off, no matter what. I was asked on a date by someone I was actually really excited about. We had met a few years back working a wedding together and he was really cool. We made the date for a Wednesday night. I was coaching early on Wednesdays then, which meant I needed to start eating earlier in the day. 7-5 to be exact. I decided to do this even though I knew I was going out that night. NO EXCUSES!! Unfortunately the 2 drinks I had over the 4 hour date left me absolutely drunk and spinning.

We were having a fun evening up until that point.

I didn’t feel unsafe going back to his place to sober up.

I thought I could trust him.

I was tragically mistaken.

When I came to and stopped him I remember him trying to explain why it was ok that he was doing what he was doing. He really liked me and would be my boyfriend, he said. Date rape is a terrible and confusing thing to have happen to you. It took me over a week, walking around like a zombie, and a very concerned response from a friend when I told her the story, to really understand what happened to me. I broke ties with him immediately and tried to move on. I acknowledged the truth, felt what I needed to, and opted to learn from it. That year I only shot one wedding and it was out of state. I pulled up to the venue and I see him walking towards me. Out of all the videographers they could have possibly hired, they chose him. And I worked with him. I knew I had to. I could not go up to a bride on her wedding day, as she’s getting ready, and tell her I can’t do it. I learned a lot about my strength as a woman that day.

 

I think it’s important to understand that this happened to me at a time when I least expected it to. I was, and still am, at a point in my life where I consider myself to be a very happy person. I had become self-employed and was enjoying the successes of that. I didn’t view my dieting and exercising as anything bad at the time, and took a lot of pride in my discipline and knowledge. I was happy being single and very selective about who I went out with. I was confident I’d never put myself into a dangerous position again. I felt strong and empowered. It took me a long time to realize how my dieting/exercise routine had contributed to the events of that night. That guy is 100% responsible for his actions that night. It also breaks my heart to think about that version of myself that was so afraid to eat food. A version that weighed her options and chose to drink on an empty stomach and put her trust into her date’s hands.

 

My best friend got married in August 2019, and I was thrilled to be her Maid of Honor. A very special role with a lot of responsibilities and investments. I cleaned up my eating for months beforehand, and was exclusively strict for the month leading up to the big day. By the time the wedding day came, I was happy enough with my results. I was still struggling with my body image and not looking how I felt I should have with the amount of effort I put in. All that effort paired with the time and money invested into the wedding, I became terrified that if I ate any of the food at the wedding I would either A.) get sick because I knew how my body would react to foods I hadn’t been allowing myself to eat, and/or B.) bloat up and undo all the hard work I’d put in for months to look a certain way. So when everyone else was grabbing slices from the pizza food truck, or sampling the dessert options, I was eating cucumbers and hummus at my table. I wasn’t happy about it either. I felt sorry for myself and made up for it at the open bar. I had a great time at her wedding, but know now just how much more fun and enjoyment I could have shared on this most memorable of occasions.

 

The dangers of diet culture were completely unknown and unheard of in my life until I met my friend Iona. She and her partner run a movement based community in Boston, and I fell in love with them immediately. They used to be Crossfitters so I knew I would be understood there. She would talk a little bit about Crossfit and why she wasn’t doing it anymore and why she had stopped restricting food. Sounded good for her, but I couldn’t imagine not watching what I ate. But we’d keep chatting, and followed each other on social media so I was seeing the things she was sharing on the topic. Some things she shared didn’t sound like me at all. I had never been as great as she was and didn’t feel like our stories were the same. I had started a deep mediation practice at the beginning of 2019 that started to shake the foundation of my food & body beliefs. As I listened more to her story, and as I deepened my own personal awareness, I found myself deeply resonating with her. I was having a hard time putting uncomfortable feelings into words. She recommended two books to me: The Fuck It Diet by Caroline Dooner, and Intuitive Eating by Evelyn Tribole.

 

It has been a year since I read The Fuck It Diet, and it shook me down to my core. So much of what she was describing sounded just like everything I was feeling. I felt angry at an industry I was a loyal disciple of for years. I felt ashamed of all the preaching in it’s favor I had done over the years. I felt overwhelmed in realizing that all the work I had put into optimizing my body was actually doing the opposite. I knew without a doubt that this was what my body and soul needed. A release from the confinement of diet culture. So I purchased Intuitive Eating and the accompanying workbook, and spent the last year slowly chipping away at the 10 principles of IE. In TFID she mentions that it can take 3-6 months for people to heal from disordered eating, some more and some less. I figured I’d be done nice and quick. Nope. This shit is HARD. So hard. Especially when the world shuts down 1 month into your practice and turns your world upside-down. I suffered a lot during the quarantine, and I did it silently. I couldn’t share my pain, and didn’t know how to. But I kept at it. I knew I couldn’t give up on this, too much was on the line. I moved in with my boyfriend during the pandemic which threw in a whole new twist and added challenges. I started unfollowing influencers & nutrition pages by the dozen. I utilized a food delivery service to help me take the pressure off of thinking about food so much. I was sick of it. I reached out to Iona for support. And I kept at it, even when it felt like I wasn’t making any progress. I kept at it. I knew my life depended on it.

 

Then some amazing things started to happen. I would put the pint of Ben & Jerry’s back in the fridge instead of eating it all at once. I could eat half my food at a restaurant and easily ask to bring the rest home. A package of cookies went stale in the cabinet because I just didn’t feel like eating them. I started buying new clothes that fit my body now, and even went as far as to go shopping when I felt most uncomfortable and bloated so I knew I could trust my clothes to truly bring me comfort. I can say no when I’m not hungry. I’m starting to be able to truly identify my hunger and fullness cues, and honor them. I’m starting to trust that my body knows what it’s doing and that it knows what size it wants to be. I can trust myself around food now because I know, without a doubt, that I can have it if I want to. Restriction is what leads to overeating, not the other way around. This, by far, has been the hardest but truest lesson I’ve learned in the decade I’ve spent educating myself on fitness and nutrition. I still have a lot of work to do, practice makes progress, and progress is never linear.

 

I have chosen to share this experience for a few reasons. First, the bravery of my friend sharing her vulnerable yet powerful healing experience inspired me to do the same for myself. This is the biggest hope for this project. We don’t get to choose who we influence, or how our influence is received. But we all have a story, and someone out there needs to hear YOUR story. Second, this has been one of the biggest personal items I have been working on recently and has caused a big upheaval in how I approach my life and my work. I pride myself on being openminded and allowing myself the grace to change my mind. Changing my mind on fitness and nutrition was not something I was expecting, and it is not what big diet culture wants us to believe. It is woven into our healthcare, media, and schools. Third, this is a topic I know millions of people, especially women, struggle with every single day. Fourth and final reason is the intersection of so many things in this experience. Self-worth, body image, sexism, science as a religion. Too much of what we think has been put there by someone else. My hope is that sharing my experience with diet culture, date rape, and orthorexia (eating disorder with the preoccupation with eating healthy food) that someone else will be inspired to free themselves from these cages and live life a little happier. Food CAN be neutral and our bodies do know what they’re doing.

Wil je meer zien van de conferentiezaal? Bekijk dan de 360° video op Youtube: www.youtube.com/watch?v=COn8jBYoqr4

 

===English===

 

Would you like to see more of the main conference hall? Watch the 360° video on Youtube: www.youtube.com/watch?v=COn8jBYoqr4

 

The Netherlands, The Hague, July 14th 2022

 

The Government of the Netherlands is hosting, together with the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court and the European Commission, an Ukraine Accountability Conference at ministerial level at the World Forum in The Hague on 14 July.

De Oekraïense president Volodymyr Zelensky spreekt via een videoverbinding met de deelnemers van de conferentie.

 

===English===

 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky speaks to conference participants via video link.

 

===

 

The Netherlands, The Hague, July 14th 2022

 

The Government of the Netherlands is hosting, together with the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court and the European Commission, an Ukraine Accountability Conference at ministerial level at the World Forum in The Hague on 14 July.

24 March 2009. Westward view along Factory Lane, towards High Road, Tottenham.

_________________________

 

"If Haringey Council makes a mistake let’s be candid and honest about it; accept responsibility and accountability; apologise with genuine contrition; and correct the error as quickly as possible. In other words, let’s behave like a reputable business instead of someone flogging dodgy DVDs at a car-boot sale."

— My suggestion to Dr Ita O'Donovan, then Haringey's Chief Executive, on 29 March 2009.

 

_________________________

 

Lines, Signs and Chasing Fines

 

On 19 March 2009 Dr Ita O'Donovan emailed me. Listing "Factory Road" as one of the streets in the Tottenham Hale Controlled Parking Zone (CPZ). She was mistaken - and not just about the name of the street.

 

Dr O'Donovan was told that the CPZ in Factory Lane complied with Statutory Regulations and that parking enforcement was taking place. As my photo shows, there weren't any CPZ bays in this street. At its western end Factory Lane was entirely marked with double yellow lines: meaning no parking at any time. And the restriction was not being enforced when I took this photo.

 

These elementary errors were not the only glaring

mistakes in the information in Dr Ita O'Donovan's

emails to me during March 2009 about the roads

within and just outside the Tottenham Hale CPZ.

 

I'd written to her as part of my ongoing attempts since June 2008 to establish that Haringey needed to correct many hundreds of mistakes in parking lines across the borough.

 

I worked closely on this with Ray Dodds, former Labour councillor for Bruce Grove ward. Another councillor, LibDem Martin Newton, was also raising these issues and finding similar reluctance by the Urban Environment Department even to to admit, let alone correct its numerous mistakes.

 

Of course, as one of the Tottenham Hale ward councillors at that time, I realised that a Chief Executive cannot micro-manage services across a whole Borough. Nor be familiar with parking lines and signs in each back street. Unfortunately Dr Ita O'Donovan chose to rely on information supplied by staff in Haringey Urban Environment Department - the same people who were responsible for the mistakes and who - at that time - were still denying them.

 

Naturally I made my best efforts to help Dr O'Donovan by supplying her with detailed and accurate information - including the evidence of my photos posted on Flickr. I illustrated that what she had been told was comical gobbledegook.

 

Am I exaggerating? Judge for yourself

from the email sequence below.

 

It begins with my Councillor's Enquiry and Freedom of Information Act request on 13 March 2009. It ends with my email to Dr O'Donovan on 29 March 2009. And - after a reminder from me - her polite but minimal acknowledgement on 19 April 2009 that she had received my email.

 

═══════════════════════════════════

 

From : Alan Stanton Tottenham Hale ward councillor

Sent : 13 March 2009 13:39

To : Ita O'Donovan, Chief Executive, Haringey Council

Cc : Cllr Claire Kober (Council Leader); Cllr Lorna Reith (Deputy Leader) ; Cllr Ray Dodds

Subject: Tottenham Hale Controlled Parking Zone.

 

Freedom of Information Act Request & Member Inquiry

 

Dear Dr O'Donovan,

 

Could I please ask you to read the [previous] emails. As you'll see, the reply to my email on 4 March ignored my detailed questions and - as is usual in my inquiries about this area of the Council's service - made unhelpful general statements instead.

 

I therefore wish to restate my questions:

(1) As a Freedom of Information Act Inquiry; as well as

(2) Repeating the questions as a formal Member Inquiry under the Council's Constitution.

 

Could I please request your help to facilitate my receiving full and proper answers; and if possible to ensure that I am not required to wait a further 28 days for this information.

 

As you will appreciate, for many months there has been a clear pattern of delays, denial, obfuscation and supplying partial information about Parking and Lines & Signs issues, experienced by me, Cllr Dodds and Cllr Newton.

 

Therefore can I make an additional request to you: to discover who made the decision to ignore my detailed questions and supply this vague reply; and their reasons for doing so. Though signed by Ms Hancox, I assume the draft reply would have been considered by more senior officers.

 

As well as the above could I please make the suggestion that urgent arrangements are put in hand for Mr Niall Bolger and his colleagues to receive training on:

• the general issue of the need for transparency and openness as good practice by local authorities.

• the general law and provisions of the Haringey Constitution regarding councillors' Access to Information

 

I also wish to make it clear that should I encounter any similar difficulties when making reasonable requests from this Service or Department in response to a future Member Inquiry, I intend

(a) Repeating my Member Inquiry as a formal Freedom of Information Request and,

(b) If necessary referring the matter to the Information Commissioner.

 

I look forward to your reply,

 

----- Original Message -----

From : Ita O'Donovan

To : Cllr Stanton Alan

Sent : Thursday, March 19, 2009 6:47 PM

Subject : LBH 60583 [not 60474] - Tottenham Hale + FOI Request ref 81000153

 

Dear Councillor Stanton,

 

Thank you for your e-mail raising your concerns about the response you received to your enquiry about the enforcement of the Tottenham Hale CPZ. I understand that, unfortunately, there has been a misunderstanding as we were dealing with two inquiries from you on this issue at the same time, one a phone inquiry and one by e-mail.

 

Your phone inquiry on 2nd March to the Parking Service asked for clarification on whether the streets within the Tottenham Hale CPZ were being enforced. This inquiry, reference LBH60474, was the one responded to by Joan Hancox on the 13th March 2009, and cleared by her manager, Beverley Taylor.

 

On the 4th March you e-mailed Frontline Members with more specific questions on this topic. This inquiry was allocated the reference LBH60583 and an acknowledgement was sent to you on the 9th March saying that a full response will be sent to you by the 18th March 2009. Unfortunately, due to an administrative error, a connection was not made between the two inquiries. I have raised this with senior managers in the service who have taken steps to make sure that this does not happen in future.

 

I would like to reassure you that there was no intention by officers to provide you with a less than full response to the issues you raised and these answers are now provided below. I understand that we have provided you with a number of detailed responses on the issue of parking lines and signs in the past, as you mention. If you are dissatisfied with these responses, as you suggest, it would be helpful for me to have specific details.

 

In response to your enquiry LBH 60583 please find below an answer to each of the questions you raise.

 

• Is the Tottenham Hale CPZ currently being enforced or not?

 

Response

Part is being enforced, please see the list of roads below.

 

• If not, when did enforcement cease?

 

Response

Enforcement ceased on the roads listed below in the 14th October 2008.

 

• If it is being enforced, is this on every road within the CPZ? Or only those roads and for cars parked on lines which comply with the law?

 

Response

Enforcement is taking place on roads where all signs and lines are compliant.

 

List of streets where enforcement is not taking place in Tottenham Hale CPZ N17

 

• Holcombe Road • Dawlish Road • Mitchley Road • Junction Road • • Devon close Road • Scales Road • Malvern Road • Park View Road.

 

List of street where enforcement is taking place in Tottenham Hale CPZ N17

• Dowsett Road • Kimberley Road • Ladysmith Road • Carew Road • Mafeking Road • Buller Road • Circular Road • Factory Road • Reform Row • Reed Road • Stoneleigh Road

 

• On what dates is it planned to begin correcting non-compliant parking lines and signs within the Tottenham Hale CPZ; and on what date will the work be complete?

 

Response

We are currently undertaking inventory surveys to identify the extent of works required and envisage that compliance works will be completed by the end of May.

 

• If it is being enforced, could you please tell me how many PCNs were issued in Tottenham Hale CPZ in January 2009 and in February 2009.

 

Response

In January we issued 208 PCNs in the Tottenham Hale CPZ, and in February, 87.

 

I trust that this now answers your inquiry and clarifies any misunderstanding. However, as you have also requested that this enquiry be treated as an FOI, should you have any further queries, or are unhappy with how we have dealt with your request and wish to make a complaint, please contact the Feedback and Information Team as below. [Address and contact details given].

 

Yours sincerely

 

Dr Ita O'Donovan

Chief Executive

 

----- Original Message -----

From : Alan Stanton

To : Ita O'Donovan

Cc: Cllrs Ray Dodds ; Claire Kober ; Lorna Reith

Sent : Friday, March 20, 2009 3:43 PM

Subject : LBH 60583 [not 60474] - Tottenham Hale + FOI Request ref 81000153

 

Dear Dr O'Donovan,

 

My thanks for your rapid response.

 

Reading your email, my initial thought was: 'Welcome to the club'. Plainly, whoever in the Urban Environment Department drafted, authorised and checked this reply approached their task with a similar lack of care and concern as they do with an enquiry from me.

 

The information you have been supplied is factually incorrect in most respects. Before I go on to explain why, let me add my second thought. 'If that's how they respond to the Chief Executive, heaven help residents who write in'.

 

Recent Changes

 

I realise that information about signs-and-lines can quickly become out-of-date as errors are corrected. And, as you will appreciate, I have not had time today to do more than re-check a few roads within Tottenham Hale CPZ.

 

As far as I can tell from my own observations and a quick limited re-check this morning, the only recent changes have been:

 

(1) Ladysmith Road N17 was resurfaced last year. The lines and signs were completely repainted and - as far as I am aware - are compliant with the Statutory Regulations. (But see 2.)

 

(2) Many roads within the CPZ have had traffic calming measures; including entry 'cushions' and corner build-outs. In a few cases these obliterated parking lines or part of the lines. Plainly, inspection of these works should have spotted this problem with minor rectification taking place without delay. Of course, it's possible that such works are already in process. (But were I a betting man, I would not put money on it. Nor, I imagine would you.)

 

(3) A number of parking lines are badly fading. So it could be doubtful if they are compliant. In my view, monitoring and refreshing lines and signs should be a priority call on the parking income. Not - as appears in Haringey - an afterthought.

 

(4) One aspect I've not raised before is the lack of T-bars on single and double-yellow lines. In one case a Parking Adjudicator ruled this was de minimis. However, I am told there is now a Review pending in the High Court which seeks to challenge that ruling. I assume your colleagues in Urban Environment are aware of this.

 

Inventory Survey

 

You said that last October officers in Urban Environment ceased enforcement in roads within the Tottenham Hale CPZ. So I find it mystifying that they are only now "undertaking inventory surveys to identify the extent of works required".

 

I'm surprised that you have not found it equally perplexing that officers compile a list (albeit a grossly inaccurate one) of roads within the CPZ, saying which ones are or are not compliant and which they are currently enforcing; but without having first carried out an accurate survey.

 

Frankly, Tottenham Hale CPZ does not cover a large area or many streets. It is perfectly feasible for someone with the necessary expertise and of reasonable intelligence to survey it using a camera and a notebook. My guess is that no more than 2-3 days would be needed for walking round and then producing a comprehensive and reliable report.

 

The fact that corrective works will not be completed until the end of May I regard as maladministration. Unless I can be given some reasonable explanation for this delay, I am considering taking up the matter with the District Auditor (re loss of income to the Council) and the Ombudsman on behalf of residents in my ward who are paying for a service they do not receive.

 

Roads within Tottenham Hale CPZ

 

Below is an alphabetical list of roads in Tottenham Hale CPZ. For some reason not all of them are in the list you were given; and there are also roads in your list which are not within the CPZ.

 

I have added [original] where a road was in the original CPZ area; and [extension] for roads in the extension. Your email sets out the roads "where all signs and lines are compliant" and enforcement is taking place. I've added my comments below each street where I disagree with this list; giving my reasons why.

 

As officers in Urban Environment are aware, for many months I have posted photos on my Flickr pages for most of the streets in this CPZ; with comments about the compliance (or otherwise) of the lines. These are part of a group of sixty photos - including from other parts of Haringey and elsewhere. You can find them here.

 

Buller Road [Extension added to the CPZ] My two photos show the bays are non-compliant. Not compliant as listed in your email.

Burbridge Way [Extension] This road was omitted altogether from the list in your email. Two photos posted - bays are non-compliant.

Carew Road [Extension] Three photos - bays are non-compliant. Not as listed in your email.

Chesnut Grove [Original CPZ] This street was omitted from your email. My three photos show bays non-compliant. However, like many roads in the original CPZ, this one had double white lines wrongly painted at the ends of the street with the correct single white lines in the middle. This elegant variation on the Statutory Regulations means those end bays are non-compliant.

Circular Road [Original] Shown as compliant in your email. This street has pavement parking and I don't know whether or not the existing signage is compliant as I am told the regulations changed since these lines and signs were installed.

Dawlish Road [Original] Shown as non-compliant in your email. Three photos posted showing the lines at both ends of the road are wrongly painted with a double white line. Otherwise the bays are compliant.

Devon Close [Original] Shown as non-compliant in your email. Pavement parking allowed. The signs and lines appear to be the same as the adjacent Circular Road - which is shown as compliant.

Dowsett Road [Extension] Shown as compliant in your email. My four photos show specific non-compliant bays. Some of the bays in this road may be compliant.

Factory Lane [including Palm Tree Court]. [Extension] This is wrongly shown in your list as 'Factory Road'. It's also shown as compliant. I haven't checked today, but as I recall, is not actually in the CPZ but marked entirely with yellow lines. Which should of course, be enforced.

Holcombe Road [Original] Shown as non-compliant in your email. My two posted photos show that two bays at the Park View Road end of Holcombe Road are indeed wrongly painted with a double white line. (And no T-bars). But apart from this improvisation, all other bays in this street are compliant and should be enforced.

Junction Road [Original] Shown as non-compliant in your email. However, my one photo shows only the two bays at the Scales Road end of Junction Road are wrongly painted with a double white line. Otherwise the bays are compliant.

Kimberley Road [Extension] Shown as compliant in your email. On the contrary, my seven photos show that every bay in this street was wrongly painted with a double white end line - and therefore entirely non-compliant. The end lines at the Dowsett Road junction have been obliterated by the new build-out.

Last week I re-checked all the lines in this street as I have taken-up the case of a resident who was refused a refund of her PCN. Hopefully, this refund will now be forthcoming; either from Haringey or via a complaint to the Ombudsman.

Ladysmith Road [Extension] This is shown in your email as compliant; with enforcement taking place. As I mentioned, this street was resurfaced and re-lined. Although lines obliterated by a new build-out are now needed. Otherwise I agree with your email.

Malvern Road [Original] Shown as non-compliant in your email. However my two photos show the same pattern as in other roads in the original CPZ. The end lines of both pairs of end bays were wrongly given two white lines and are non-compliant. However, the middle bays are okay.

Mafeking Road [Extension] Shown as compliant in your email and enforcement taking place. However my three photos show that the parking bays are in fact non-compliant.

Mitchley Road [Original] Shown as non-compliant in your email. One photo indicates the same pattern as in Malvern Road above. Apart from the end lines on the end bays, the others are compliant.

Park View Road This was partly in the original CPZ and partly in the extension.

It is shown as non-compliant in your email. My one photo shows a single bay near the corner with Dowsett Road which has double white transverse lines at the north end of the bay. Apart from this bay, other parking bay lines (on the western side of this street) appear correctly marked. The eastern side of Park View Road is a double yellow line and should be enforced.

Reed Road [Extension] Shown as compliant in your email. However my photo shows non-compliant lines.

Scales Road [Original] Shown as non-compliant in your email. My photo shows one end of the end bay wrongly marked - the same pattern as in the adjoining Malvern Road and Mitchley above. Other bays are compliant.

Stoneleigh Road [Original] Shown as compliant in your email. I posted one photo. In my view, all the bays appear to be non-compliant

Wilson's Avenue This street was omitted from your list. I am unclear whether or not this was properly included in the Statutory Order which authorised the CPZ. It has a parking bay which is wrongly marked. This street is also outside the area demarcated by the CPZ signage. I raised this several years ago and was assured it made no difference. But that is not my reading of the Regulations.

Reform Row. This street was included in your list as compliant and being enforced. As far as I am aware Reform Row is not and has never been in the Tottenham Hale CPZ.

 

Officers' Intentions

 

We will have to agree to differ on the matter of officers' intentions. When I send an email requesting full and detailed information, I expect a full and detailed answer. However, I am always willing to discuss with officers whether my request is reasonable and constructive; and if it requires an unfeasible amount of work. What I am no longer willing to accept is being fobbed-off.

 

I very much regret to say that my experience does not lead to me to draw the conclusion that these officers are committed to transparency. (Although I also realise that this may not be entirely within their control.)

 

Whatever the reasons, I have - as you put it - frequently been dissatisfied with responses I received. If you would like details, could I please invite you to read my public comments posted on my Flickr photoblog. A search for 'tags' such as: CPZ, PCN, parking; yellow box; should take you to the relevant pages.

 

My thanks for your help.

 

Alan Stanton

Tottenham Hale ward councillor

 

----- Original Message -----

From : Alan Stanton

Sent : 26 March 2009 13:46

To : Ita O'Donovan

Cc : Cllr Ray Dodds Ray; Cllr Claire Kober (Leader of the Council); Cllr Lorna Reith

Subject : LBH 60583 [not 60474] - Tottenham Hale + FOI Request ref 81000153

 

Dear Dr O'Donovan,

 

A brief update to my email [above].

 

As I mentioned, in response to your email last Friday I took new photos of a few streets within Tottenham Hale CPZ. This week I checked two other locations: Wilson's Avenue and Factory Lane.

 

I couldn't spot any corrections to non-compliant CPZ or yellow lines. In some streets the only change was that markings are more faded than before. In others, traffic calming measures had covered over some lines - which had not yet been repainted.

 

All my CPZ photos are collected in a Flickr 'set' which you can access using this 'guest pass' link.

 

I look forward to hearing from you.

 

Alan Stanton

Tottenham Hale ward councillor

 

----- Original Message -----

From : Ita O'Donovan

To : Cllr Alan Stanton

Cc : Cllr Ray Dodds ; Cllr Claire Kober (Leader of the Council) ; Cllr Lorna Reith

Sent : Saturday, March 28, 2009 1:03 PM

Subject : LBH 60583 [not 60474] - Tottenham Hale + FOI Request ref 81000153

 

Dear Cllr Stanton,

 

Thank you for your further detailed email on the enforcement situation in Tottenham Hale CPZ. You obviously have a real concern about these matters.

 

In essence these concerns focus on two main issues: firstly, the quality of the responses that you are receiving from Urban Environment and the accuracy of the information which is being supplied to you. Secondly, you are concerned about the length of time it is taking to rectify compliance issues in this area and feel that the end of May is not acceptable.

 

On the first issue, I understand that you feel that the response mainly addressed the questions that you raised but did not go into sufficient detail to satisfy your concerns about the compliance of lines and signs and our reasons for enforcing or not enforcing.

 

In response to your question “If it is being enforced, is this every road within the CPZ? Or is it only those roads and for cars parked on lines which comply with the law?”, the response should have explained that enforcement is taking place in locations in the listed roads where signs are compliant as well as where restrictions are not CPZ specific, for example, footway parking and double yellow lines.

 

I would also confirm that the Council has not ceased enforcement due to the double white line bay markings as it is still clear to drivers where there are bays, irrespective of whether the bay end is marked with a single or a double bay marking. These will of course be addressed as part of our compliance work as will any faded or worn lines.

 

I apologise that there was an error in the roads within the zone. Two roads were included which are just outside as they are on the same parking enforcement beat. I have stressed to Urban Environment officers the need for accuracy in responding to Member Enquiries.

 

On the second issue, you may be aware that the compliance work that is being carried out in Tottenham Hale CPZ is part of an ongoing programme to improve compliance of lines and signs. This work has started with Finsbury Park CPZ and Seven Sisters CPZ and a great deal of this has already been completed. The work on Tottenham Hale CPZ is part of this ongoing programme. I do not feel that the timescales for completing this work are unreasonable given the scale of all the compliance work being undertaken.

 

Thank you for the very detailed information you have provided on the compliance issues within the CPZ. I have asked officers to ensure that this is fed into our work and to invite you to accompany them on a walk around the area, once the compliance work has been completed, to make sure that all of your concerns are fully addressed.

 

Sincerely

Ita O’Donovan

 

----- Original Message -----

From : Alan Stanton

To: Ita O'Donovan

Cc : Cllr Ray Dodds ; Cllr Claire Kober (Leader of the Council) ; Cllr Lorna Reith

Sent : Sunday, March 29, 2009 1:43 PM

Subject : LBH 60583 [not 60474] - Tottenham Hale + FOI Request ref 81000153

 

Dear Dr O’Donovan,

 

Thanks for your email yesterday 28 March.

 

I assume someone else wrote this comical gobbledegook for you. But I’d really appreciate your reading something before it's sent in your name.

 

But perhaps you did read it? In which case you've apparently failed to grasp any of the key issues for which – to use your words – I have “a real concern”. Nor, it seems, have you the slightest inkling that whoever advised on yesterday's email put you in the invidious position of writing almost precisely the opposite to what you wrote before.

 

You are correct of course that I have “concerns” about the accuracy of the information supplied to me by the Urban Environment Department.

 

It is also correct that I am critical about the length of time it has taken to recognise, acknowledge and correct simple errors.

 

But it may be helpful if I make clear that my main “concerns” are not:

• About officers responding to councillors.

• Nor about my “feeling” that officers have not given me enough detail.

• Nor is all this some anorak-issue of single or double white lines or whether or not yellow lines on roads have T-bars.

 

There are far more important public issues involved which are at the heart of the relationship between local councils and their residents. These are issues of trust and confidence; openness and accountability.

 

I asked simple questions. Do the signs and lines in one CPZ comply with the Law of the Land – the Statutory Regulations? Are they being enforced as such?

 

In response to my formal enquiry and Freedom of Information Act request and an enquiry from you as the Chief Executive, we get the answers:

 

"No". "Yes". "Here’s a list." "Well, what we meant to say was not these bays and not these lines." "Oops, sorry, the list is wrong." "It's an ongoing programme." "We are about to do a survey." "We’ll walk round with you at the end of May."

 

It’s like wading through porridge. And if it wasn’t serious it would be hilarious.

 

But it is serious. And not just because we're taking people’s money for permits and fines. We are breaking an implied agreement with our residents. They buy permits; they are entitled to expect and trust us to put in legally correct lines and signs. We enforce these; and they are entitled to expect and have confidence in us to follow the legal rules.

 

If local authorities behave as if they are above the law that is corrosive of the trust and confidence in these councils, in council staff, and in elected councillors.

 

Openness and Accountability.

 

Local government is now fond of referring to ‘customers’; and to ‘business units’, ‘business plans’, delivery', and ‘service offers’. So let’s take an example from a real business.

 

Suppose Waitrose were to overcharge you because their scanning equipment was faulty. You would no doubt be outraged. You would insist they apologised to you and all the other customers; immediately stopped using the faulty equipment and fixed it; and refunded any overcharges. As they are a reputable trader they would do so. And without delay, obfuscation, disinformation; and using weasel-words like “addressing the problem”. I would expect them to be candid and open; because they value the trust and goodwill of their customers.

 

So if Haringey Council makes a mistake let’s be candid and honest about it; accept responsibility and accountability; apologise with genuine contrition; and correct the error as quickly as possible. In other words, let’s behave like a reputable business instead of someone flogging dodgy DVDs at a car-boot sale.

 

Sincerely,

 

Alan Stanton

Councillor Tottenham Hale ward

 

----- Original Message -----

From : Alan Stanton, Tottenham Hale ward councillor

Sent : 09 April 2009 13:45

To : Ita O'Donovan

Cc : Cllr Claire Kober ; Cllr Lorna Reith; Cllr Ray Dodds

Subject : LBH 60583 [not 60474] - Tottenham Hale + FOI Request ref 81000153

 

Dear Dr O'Donovan,

 

I would be grateful if you would let me know if and when I am likely to receive a reply to my email below.

 

Yours sincerely,

Alan Stanton

 

----- Original Message -----

From : Ita O'Donovan

To : Cllr Alan Stanton

Cc : Cllr Claire Kober (Leader of the Council); Cllr Lorna Reith ; Cllr Ray Dodds

Sent : Sunday, April 19, 2009 7:37 PM

Subject : RE: LBH 60583 [not 60474] - Tottenham Hale + FOI Request ref 81000153

 

Dear Cllr Stanton

 

I am confirming that I received and read your email of the 29th March.

 

Sincerely,

Ita O’Donovan

AccountAbility logo

On street level at the Metrotown SkyTrain Station, there is information about TransLink's Accountability Centre

I started dieting April 15, 2012. Yes, I remember the day bc I glorified it for so many years. I started bc I didn’t physically feel well a lot of the time & I struggled with body image. We all know the cure for that: DIET & EXERCISE! Right?? I posted about my journey for “accountability” and got so much positive feedback. “You look amazing! You’re such an inspiration! Can you help me too?” I was so excited bc I hadn’t ever moved my body or honored it in anyway prior to that. Fueled by the results & positive reinforcement, I kept looking for better ways to diet and exercise for a few years. Then I found CrossFit, an entire global community of dieters & exercisers looking to do as much of both as possible. Perfect! For over 5 years I learned to micro-manage every seed I put into my mouth and sweat more than I ever had in my life. I was so proud to be a woman that was strong. And I still am. But things started to change eventually.

 

Every morning I’d wait until I pooped to weigh myself naked so that I would know the REAL number. What’s this?? How did my weight go up when I paid someone to tell me exactly how much to eat?! Must have been too much broccoli. I’ll pack food to bring to the pizza party. I’ll go “super clean” before the trip, party, event, etc. Everything I learned about, I tried. When information conflicted, I hedged my bets and restricted more of it. I wanted to be the gold standard and I wasn’t going to let anything mess that up. I even became Precision Nutrition “certified” because paying people to tell me what they learned in that one book - that apparently gave them the legal right to charge people to help them restrict food without any other credentials in nutrition or psychology - wasn’t working, so I opted to just become certified myself. And then the inevitable happened... it all stopped working. No matter what I did, who I paid, the results just stopped. My body began to bloat in ways I couldn’t anticipate, no matter what I added or eliminated. Physical discomfort I didn’t know how to stop. The stress of this sent me spiraling emotionally. The only logical explanation was that I was doing something wrong, that there was something I wasn’t doing, and that I wasn’t doing enough. My mind and time were consumed with how to control my body through food & exercise. Devastated when those around me succeeded with less perceived effort than me. I gave myself no leeway.

 

In May 2017 I was in the thick of this. I had been single for about a year and was ready to start dating again. I had been strict intermittent fasting, 8-10 hours of eating & 14-16 off, no matter what. I was asked on a date by someone I was actually really excited about. We had met a few years back working a wedding together and he was really cool. We made the date for a Wednesday night. I was coaching early on Wednesdays then, which meant I needed to start eating earlier in the day. 7-5 to be exact. I decided to do this even though I knew I was going out that night. NO EXCUSES!! Unfortunately the 2 drinks I had over the 4 hour date left me absolutely drunk and spinning.

We were having a fun evening up until that point.

I didn’t feel unsafe going back to his place to sober up.

I thought I could trust him.

I was tragically mistaken.

When I came to and stopped him I remember him trying to explain why it was ok that he was doing what he was doing. He really liked me and would be my boyfriend, he said. Date rape is a terrible and confusing thing to have happen to you. It took me over a week, walking around like a zombie, and a very concerned response from a friend when I told her the story, to really understand what happened to me. I broke ties with him immediately and tried to move on. I acknowledged the truth, felt what I needed to, and opted to learn from it. That year I only shot one wedding and it was out of state. I pulled up to the venue and I see him walking towards me. Out of all the videographers they could have possibly hired, they chose him. And I worked with him. I knew I had to. I could not go up to a bride on her wedding day, as she’s getting ready, and tell her I can’t do it. I learned a lot about my strength as a woman that day.

 

I think it’s important to understand that this happened to me at a time when I least expected it to. I was, and still am, at a point in my life where I consider myself to be a very happy person. I had become self-employed and was enjoying the successes of that. I didn’t view my dieting and exercising as anything bad at the time, and took a lot of pride in my discipline and knowledge. I was happy being single and very selective about who I went out with. I was confident I’d never put myself into a dangerous position again. I felt strong and empowered. It took me a long time to realize how my dieting/exercise routine had contributed to the events of that night. That guy is 100% responsible for his actions that night. It also breaks my heart to think about that version of myself that was so afraid to eat food. A version that weighed her options and chose to drink on an empty stomach and put her trust into her date’s hands.

 

My best friend got married in August 2019, and I was thrilled to be her Maid of Honor. A very special role with a lot of responsibilities and investments. I cleaned up my eating for months beforehand, and was exclusively strict for the month leading up to the big day. By the time the wedding day came, I was happy enough with my results. I was still struggling with my body image and not looking how I felt I should have with the amount of effort I put in. All that effort paired with the time and money invested into the wedding, I became terrified that if I ate any of the food at the wedding I would either A.) get sick because I knew how my body would react to foods I hadn’t been allowing myself to eat, and/or B.) bloat up and undo all the hard work I’d put in for months to look a certain way. So when everyone else was grabbing slices from the pizza food truck, or sampling the dessert options, I was eating cucumbers and hummus at my table. I wasn’t happy about it either. I felt sorry for myself and made up for it at the open bar. I had a great time at her wedding, but know now just how much more fun and enjoyment I could have shared on this most memorable of occasions.

 

The dangers of diet culture were completely unknown and unheard of in my life until I met my friend Iona. She and her partner run a movement based community in Boston, and I fell in love with them immediately. They used to be Crossfitters so I knew I would be understood there. She would talk a little bit about Crossfit and why she wasn’t doing it anymore and why she had stopped restricting food. Sounded good for her, but I couldn’t imagine not watching what I ate. But we’d keep chatting, and followed each other on social media so I was seeing the things she was sharing on the topic. Some things she shared didn’t sound like me at all. I had never been as great as she was and didn’t feel like our stories were the same. I had started a deep mediation practice at the beginning of 2019 that started to shake the foundation of my food & body beliefs. As I listened more to her story, and as I deepened my own personal awareness, I found myself deeply resonating with her. I was having a hard time putting uncomfortable feelings into words. She recommended two books to me: The Fuck It Diet by Caroline Dooner, and Intuitive Eating by Evelyn Tribole.

 

It has been a year since I read The Fuck It Diet, and it shook me down to my core. So much of what she was describing sounded just like everything I was feeling. I felt angry at an industry I was a loyal disciple of for years. I felt ashamed of all the preaching in it’s favor I had done over the years. I felt overwhelmed in realizing that all the work I had put into optimizing my body was actually doing the opposite. I knew without a doubt that this was what my body and soul needed. A release from the confinement of diet culture. So I purchased Intuitive Eating and the accompanying workbook, and spent the last year slowly chipping away at the 10 principles of IE. In TFID she mentions that it can take 3-6 months for people to heal from disordered eating, some more and some less. I figured I’d be done nice and quick. Nope. This shit is HARD. So hard. Especially when the world shuts down 1 month into your practice and turns your world upside-down. I suffered a lot during the quarantine, and I did it silently. I couldn’t share my pain, and didn’t know how to. But I kept at it. I knew I couldn’t give up on this, too much was on the line. I moved in with my boyfriend during the pandemic which threw in a whole new twist and added challenges. I started unfollowing influencers & nutrition pages by the dozen. I utilized a food delivery service to help me take the pressure off of thinking about food so much. I was sick of it. I reached out to Iona for support. And I kept at it, even when it felt like I wasn’t making any progress. I kept at it. I knew my life depended on it.

 

Then some amazing things started to happen. I would put the pint of Ben & Jerry’s back in the fridge instead of eating it all at once. I could eat half my food at a restaurant and easily ask to bring the rest home. A package of cookies went stale in the cabinet because I just didn’t feel like eating them. I started buying new clothes that fit my body now, and even went as far as to go shopping when I felt most uncomfortable and bloated so I knew I could trust my clothes to truly bring me comfort. I can say no when I’m not hungry. I’m starting to be able to truly identify my hunger and fullness cues, and honor them. I’m starting to trust that my body knows what it’s doing and that it knows what size it wants to be. I can trust myself around food now because I know, without a doubt, that I can have it if I want to. Restriction is what leads to overeating, not the other way around. This, by far, has been the hardest but truest lesson I’ve learned in the decade I’ve spent educating myself on fitness and nutrition. I still have a lot of work to do, practice makes progress, and progress is never linear.

 

I have chosen to share this experience for a few reasons. First, the bravery of my friend sharing her vulnerable yet powerful healing experience inspired me to do the same for myself. This is the biggest hope for this project. We don’t get to choose who we influence, or how our influence is received. But we all have a story, and someone out there needs to hear YOUR story. Second, this has been one of the biggest personal items I have been working on recently and has caused a big upheaval in how I approach my life and my work. I pride myself on being openminded and allowing myself the grace to change my mind. Changing my mind on fitness and nutrition was not something I was expecting, and it is not what big diet culture wants us to believe. It is woven into our healthcare, media, and schools. Third, this is a topic I know millions of people, especially women, struggle with every single day. Fourth and final reason is the intersection of so many things in this experience. Self-worth, body image, sexism, science as a religion. Too much of what we think has been put there by someone else. My hope is that sharing my experience with diet culture, date rape, and orthorexia (eating disorder with the preoccupation with eating healthy food) that someone else will be inspired to free themselves from these cages and live life a little happier. Food CAN be neutral and our bodies do know what they’re doing.

Gateway Camp Verse

(Pin1) Ging1 Mahn4

Isaiah 62:10

 

What Dale instructed about going out of our way to treat the Mainland Chinese well resonated within me. To be sure, just as the Koreans have gone out of their way to bless me so I must step out to bless and to love my Mainland brethren.

 

After the first meeting, Ed and I wandered off campus and found inside a shopping mall a cha chaan teng where we had a late-night snack. And hardly had we tucked into our meals when in walked several dozen volunteers, all locals, who were overcome, it seemed, by the same munchies that infected Ed and me. It’s surprising how such a primal urge, at such a time, drives everyone to no less than the same, impossibly far location.

 

I thus far have met so many people that, had I not brought along my iPod, I would have already lost track of the multitudinous names flying around like fireflies at night, sparkling luminously one moment and then disappearing the next. And this is only the beginning: more and more people will arrive both today and tomorrow so I had better stay awake, alert, and writing.

 

I am working with a partner who really challenges me, and indeed that is why I chose to work with him. From the first words that came streaming out of his mouth, I knew he would be a special one, and as if to conifrm my conjecture, indeed, the more he spoke, the more confused I became. The challenge, I have realized after much ruminating, isn’t so much the pace of his speech as his choice of words, which fall outside a normal lexical range; that is, at least with me, when he talks, he doesn’t use familiar collocations to communicate; besides, he has an uncanny Tin Shui Wai accent; those, along with his amazing resistance to Chinglish, which impresses me, by the way, have made our communication tedious, since I am bombarded by peculiar lexical constructions that I generally never encounter in Cantonese conversation and must therefore stop our flow to clarify his speech. It’s too bad that he doesn’t speak English as I would love to hear how he structures ideas in my native language to determine whether or not this strange lexis has spilled over into his other modes of communication.

 

Regardless, in being with him, I have learned to be patient, and if I am truly to walk away from resentment, I must continue rather to engage him than to keep him at arm’s length. It helps us, then, that he is a congenial fellow, prone more to expressing love, much in the same way that I do by warmly grabbing a forearm or a shoulder, than to venting his frustration, which with me could certainly be great. He is verily a good guy, and so long as the Lord keeps him — I am sure Daddy will — Tin Shui Wai, that small patch of concrete moon colony, is in capable, faithful human hands.

 

Sau2 muhn6 je2

Mihng6 dihng6

Kyuhn4 lihk6

Lihk6 leuhng6

Chong3 yi3 adjective

Chong3 jouh6 verb

 

Romans 5:3-5

 

Not only so, but we rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us.

 

I cried this morning when I read these words, because they are true, and comfort my soul as water to a dry, parched land. However many times I’ve lamented this place and its people, I am still inextricably tied to this rock, per God’s will for my life; and God really is faithful in providing a way out not from this place but from these spiritual hindrances. These past few days, what with communication failures and fatigue setting in, I could have more easily give into my rationality, in defense of my weaknesses, than resisted this bait of satan. Thank God, hence, for the words which are like fuel for the refiner’s fire that burns up all my expectations, my pride and my flesh. I can survive, nay, rejoice, indeed, because of God, who, in me, day by day teaches me to suffer long with a smile.

 

This is what the gateway is all about, I believe: jumping head-first out of my comfort zone to confront the nations, for my brothers and sisters and I must face each other if we are to raise the banners together. Battling through enemy strongholds of mistrust ad resentment, we demolish carnal thoughts and dig deep in the Spirit for the unity that shall overcome as much language as culture; God, after all, is bigger, even, than the battlefield. In these ways can my brethren and I love each other as ourselves, as we shall be one in the Father, with audacious power and boldness laying hands on His kingdom which advances, in this kairos moment, over all of China, including, no doubt, Hong Kong. No longer will there be curses thrown upon the nations; but rather the river of life will flow through the city, and the leaves of the tree on each side of the river will be for the healing of the nations.

 

1) Welcoming the Father

2) Unifying the body

3) Partnering with the Chinese

4) Serving the city

5) Supporting the Chinese

 

Isaac and I have worked quite hard this morning, putting up signs all over campus, and as if to reward me for my assiduity, he offered to buy me a drink, an offer which I took up. Indeed, this man’s care and concern for others, genuine, doubtlessly, fills me with joy, for, to be sure, the joy of the lord is his strength. My friend is indefatigable, always encouraging and never slighting, no matter the circumstances, rain (that has happened a lot today) or shine. Praise God!

 

Much like my relationship with Isaac, my relationships with my other team members have improved considerably since, even, this morning’s briefing during which, the code-switching, happening too fast and too furiously for my comfort, vexed me so terribly that if Isaac had not put a generous arm around my shoulder immediately afterwards, I surely would have blown my top in frustration at the perplexing language option. Thankfully, my team and I settled our language arrangements: Isaac, Dorcas and I will intractably speak Cantonese to each other whereas my other group mates and I will use English with as little code-switching as possible; and I, along with Ed, no doubt, am satisfied. It’s best to avoid misunderstandings.

 

Lihng4 Mahn4 (soul)

Sihng4 jeung2

Muhng6 Seung2 (dreams)

 

The Lord’s mercies are new everyday. Just now, during the morning rally, by His Spirit, hundreds of brothers and sisters received a new anointing, to be spiritual mothers and fathers of a new generation so as to minister to the next. This outpouring of the Spirit was sudden, and so captivated me that when the call came to reap, I rushed to the front to ask my father for this anointing, and naturally, my life was transformed. In the same way, the pastor called up a new generation of spiritual children to receive the love, care and support of these new parents; and likewise, so many young men and women heeded this call that verily, the pit in front of the stage was soon awash in hugs and tears between generations that, once lost, were now found. Indeed, no sooner did these people embrace their father than Dad immediately swept them up in his strong arms and showered them with audacious encouragement and support. Praise God!

 

An Outburst

 

I was angry this morning during our team time. I temporarily lost my ability to be merciful and to live in God’s grace. When my team leader began to address me in English, yet again, I couldn’t help but berate him for doing so when Cantonese, I argued, would be a more economical medium of delivery. And then I compounded this already incendiary situation by ranting about the hypocrisy of Hong Kong being a gateway to China but not a gateway into its own neighborhoods teeming with Chinese people, 97% of whom, according to one of the pastors at this camp, do not know the Lord Jesus. Cantonese will matter, I posit, if anyone dares to take on the onerous mission in this vexing place.

 

To be sure, even my brother announced that language was a prohibitive barrier to closer relationships with these local people, and therefore, since he neither speaks Cantonese nor is going to give learning the language a go, he is relegated to the outer walls of the gates into Hong Kong.

 

In hindsight, I thought I cared enough about God’s purposes for me in Hong Kong, but I realize now that I still care a lot about myself, and resentment. Though I have prayed and declared boldly that God is bigger than language and culture, I know I don’t believe it; and that’s upsetting. For the time being, I don’t verily believe in my heart that I can have deeper, closer relationships with Chinese people without the benefit of language and culture, patterns of action.

 

OK. This is actually an opportune start for my spiritual parentship, for now I have an opportunity to put aside my very compelling arguments for the necessity of language and culture in deep and close relationships, these conclusions born out of my reason, and to step out in faith, to trust in the Lord who, I pray, will show me deep and close relationships sans language and culture, and with whom my deep and close relationship shall obviously be the key to this victory.

 

I’m thinking about events at this camp that heretofore demonstrated loving relationships without language and culture, and I recalled two acts: the first happened yesterday when I spontaneously joined a line of ushers to high-five and to cheer the audience as they flooded out of the auditorium, the morning rally having scarcely finished; and the second, this was my meeting Yao, a man from the Ivory Coast, whom I befriended in those first, fleeting, if not frantic moments before the opening rally on Friday evening. That encounter was immediate and sudden, neither words nor habits needed; Yao and I simply high-fived, hugged and sat beside each other; and wow, that was terrific companionship — praise God!

 

Finally, however hard my diatribe may have struck my team members’ hearts, my merciful group mates still forgave me, not only on an personal level, but also, as I had sought forgiveness on behalf of all foreigners who have ever cursed locals or stood passively outside the gateway, on a corporate level, thereby releasing countless non-Chinese people into the freedom of these Hong Kong people’s forgiveness; just as brothers and sisters had so recently been reconciled to each other in my church, so local and non-local people have received the others’ freedom of forgiveness; more than a homecoming, that, indeed, is a breakthrough.

 

In listening to this morning’s sermon, I hear such verses as I know God is speaking to me through His word. 2Corinthians 4:16-18, this scripture in particular carries a buoyant, hopeful currency in my heart. My spirit soaks in this divine revelation as a sponge soaks in water and thus becomes malleable, able to be formed and shaped according to its holder’s will: Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

 

Disagreeable

 

I don’t know why my brother and I undermine each others’ comments; why we no more know consensus than the deaf music. Our interactions have been especially abrasive recently since we have spent so much time together without the benefit of our other brother to act as a natural, vociferous buffer; and as a result we argue like pieces of sand paper being rubbed against flesh, which inevitably leads to significant soreness. I feel sore now.

 

I think back to my outburst this morning and can appreciate my role in this evening’s embarrassing outcome; I am certainly not without fault, for I choose these days not only to venture my opinions but to do so passionately, if not emotionally. People consequently who otherwise are phlegmatic at best are put in a discomfiting position by my impassioned pleas. Besides, I recall Interrupting my brother prolifically, which understandably would not make him a happy camper; just as a hyperactive child doesn’t know when to stop pestering his sibling, so I don’t know nowadays when to hold my tongue. Indeed, I would rather not respond at all to my brother, even after he has fired off his rejoinder, than to strike him down in mid-speech.

 

In view of this latest incident, I have resolved to take the former course of action. To be sure, I simply stopped our petty dispute about a stupid basketball game by, awkward as it was, taking out my book and perusing it as fixedly as my tattered mind would allow. I will try my best to stay away from my brother for a spell, to create physical and spiritual space between us, so hopefully, in this way at least one of us will be able to come to his senses about this matter; better yet, now would be an opportune time for our father in his mercy to reveal to us the fault lines in our flesh so that we could surrender these tremulous spots in our soul, crucifying them to the father for our healing and the redemption of our relationship. I will pray about this.

 

…Praise God. If I had not separated myself from my brother’s presence, I wouldn’t have been sitting at that bench at the exact moment when Isaac came over to me in a plaintive mood. Obviously upset, he had been so recently wronged, he lamented on the verge of tears. And at that, mercy swept over my countenance, for my brother felt as aggrieved as I did earlier; and this appointment, per God’s unfailing, obstinate love, had at last come for me, convicting me to be very, very agreeable, sympathetic and kind to my fellow long-suffering brother. In this instance, thank God, language did not matter so much as empathy, carrying each others’ burdens and thus fulfilling the rule of Christ. We prayed and blessed each other in Jesus’ name, and then boldly went forward into the rally.

 

I suspect the enemy has infiltrated our team what with my outbursts and Isaac’s failing out as evidence. My group mates and I must be more vigilant in prayer and in digging deep into the Father’s word if we are to overcome the spies in our camp that have planted incendiary devices in our mouths and in our hearts. We certainly need such encouragement as the Lord provides for the edification and encouragement of each other, even more so, in fact, in the face of adversity, despite our fatigue and other physical ills that befall us like a hail of arrows. In faith, I’m sure, faith will see us through; and per what the pastors exhorted at the rally, we will become as if the smooth stone in David’s sling, ready to fly into the air to crush the Goliath in this world.

 

Sihng4 jauh6 achievement

Ngwuih misunderstanding

Nggaai2 to misunderstand

Yuhn4 leuhng6 forgive

Gaan2syun2 chosen

 

The Security Guard

 

At the morning rally, a security guard left an indelible impression on my heart what with her showing of unconditional support and her proffering of words of encouragement, which like a waterfall fell in force and power over my friends and me. To my amazement, I first saw her out of the corner of my eye stepping out of her role as a security guard to pray as a spiritual parent to two spiritual children during the morning rally’s prayer time; there she was, clad in her blue uniform, laying hands on those weeping kids; finally, I had witnessed someone courageous enough to step out of that rule of law, her boundary in Hong Kong, to be bound to that which is ethereal, the rule of Christ to carry each others’ burdens. Later, as the audience passed through the exit, I had time to confirm her love for the Lord and at that, we broke into a torrent of encouragement and followed this with a flurry of picture-taking. Indeed, never have I stumbled upon such good will from a dragon security guard in HK so I am hopeful, therefore, that this is but the the start of a greater movement within that particular demon-worshipping core, that at this time, God is opening up the heavenly armory and placing his prayer warriors inside that particular stronghold in Hong Kong to demolish every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God and placing in its stead a profusion of love, gentleness and kindness. I look forward to the day when wisdom, and not languid stares, shall emanate from all the people who man the facilities in these universities.

 

Reconciliation

 

This is special. No sooner had Isaac and I stepped into the auditorium than we heard the plaintive cry of the mainland Chinese on the stage forgiving the Hong Kong people for their trespasses against their brethren from the north. A flurry of hugs, replete with a few tears, ensued. That was, as Dale announced from the stage, a delicious moment. Jesus must have been breaking out the good champagne in heaven for a rousing celebration in view of this victory.

 

Sex Talk – Part One

 

The kids finally received the sex talk this morning; a fiery pastor delivered the message which was as much shocking as informative; and gasps and wincing abounded in the audience.

 

While I have recently heard the sex talk at the men’s retreat, and have furthermore by God’s grace been inoculated against this particular area of struggle, it was nonetheless refreshing to hear the news, as shocking and as sensational as it was. I am willing, in addition, to believe that some of the atrocious acts that the pastor referenced, such as gruesome abortions and bizarre sexual acts, are more prevalent than my reason will believe, because my scope is limited by experience, but as the Father witnesses everything, if the Spirit has convicted this man and has told him that the world is heading closer and closer into the mouth of Jezebel in this way, I accept this. In fact, believing this is important if I am to be a good spiritual parent who will not only protect but educate the new generation from the prowling enemy that lurks these days, even, in our computers.

 

Prayer

 

The Holy Spirit fell over me this morning during my group’s team time. He convicted me to pray in Cantonese for the first time, and so I did without fear, those Chinese words pouring out of me as if perfume from an alabaster jar. Praise God: he is good; and this was the moment I have been waiting for.

 

I think about what happened, and am amazed at the Father’s favor; despite my critiques against this culture, and in spite of my recent lamentations, the Lord, ever faithfully, provided a way out under which I could stand and by which I could be protected from the bait of Satan. Little did I know that the escape route would, in fact, ironically, direct me to the very thing that heretofore has stood as an obstruction, a spiritual roadblock, in my mind.

 

A missionary on the stage just spoke into my life when she said about her experience learning Putonghua in China: the difficult part was not learning the language but learning to love those people as Jesus loves them. This will always be my mission, no matter where I am.

 

Keuhng4 jong3

Lai1 hei2 (pull up)

 

In the afternoon, my team had a reconciliation meeting during which, in small groups, each team member at last was given an opportunity to share alternately their joys and struggles. At that time, though having staved off an open rebuke for several days, I could no longer hold back this challenge to my small group: to step out in faith to be a gateway to the nations; and second, per the morning’s message, to on their guard against the sexually explicit, insidious media. I laid out my argument with much cogency, and such a response as I saw fit knocked my group mates into a stupor, because they certainly didn’t have much to say afterwards.

 

Oscillate between…and…

Vacillate…

Equivocated

Prevaricate

 

Sex Talk – Part Two

 

1) Jesus came to show us the Father; John1:18

2) Grace First, Truth Second; John 1:24:25; 16-18

 

Pahn4 mohng6 (hope)

 

Do you believe that Jesus can heal you? Then lay hands.

 

Dale and I are men who have shared similar struggles. His testimony is riveting.

 

Suddenly, I realized that this rally is, in fact, a continuation of yesterday morning’s sex talk, because we ended the previous rally praying more against the shame of abortion than against personal sexual immorality. Notionally, what is being discussed will enable people to really experience the love of the Father such that to change permanently our behavior. So when we are tempted:

 

1) Call for help; Romans 10:13

2) Escape Plan; 1Corinthians 10:13

 

Remember not to stand and rebuke the enemy with your own strength; move physically from the situation.

 

3) Run Away; 2Timothy 2:22

4) Into the Father’s Arms; Hebrews 4:14

 

I like this talk. This might be the first time that these young people get straight sex talk from their leaders; and there is no better time than now for these young people to break through in this particular area of struggle, just as the young men of SP broke through these obstinate barriers during our men’s retreat.

 

5) Confess and be Healed; James 5:16

 

I hope these young people find faithful accountability brothers and sisters in this service.

 

6) Walk in Transparent Accountable Relationships; 1John 1:7

7) Resist the Enemy; James 4:7

Scenes from the High Level Political Forum (HLPF) Side Event: A Feminist Accountability Framework: What the World Needs to Achieve Gender Equality and All the Sustainable Development Goals, co-sponsored by ICRW and its partners Equal Measures 2030, Save the Children, Global Citizen, Women's Environment & Development Organization (WEDO), UN Women, the Government of Costa Rica, and the Government of Zambia. Held at the Church Centre in New York on 18 July 2017.

 

Pictured Above: Lakshmi Puri, Deputy Executive Director of UN Women

 

Speakers included:

Eleanor Blomstrom, Co-Director and Head of Office at WEDO, Women’s Major Group Chair

 

Charlotte Bunch, Founding Director and Senior Scholar, at the Center for Women's Global Leadership, Rutgers University

 

Lakshmi Puri, Deputy Executive Director of UN Women

 

Ambassador Rolando Castro, Deputy Permanent Representative of the Permanent of Costa Rica to the United Nations

 

Wallace Nguluwe, Gender Specialist, Ministry of Gender, Zambia

 

Sai Jyothirmai Racherla, Program Director, ARROW (representing Women’s Major Group)

 

Alison Holder, Director, Equal Measures 2030

 

Jenny Ottenhoff, Policy Director, Global Health at ONE

 

Grace Choi, Associate Director for Global Gender Policy & Advocacy, Save the Children USA

 

Photo: UN Women/Ryan Brown

 

On Twitter: twitter.com/UN_Women/status/887383006268321792

docs.google.com/drawings/d/1VyD5vHTUeZNnz7hOB8S_i9LHfuBNv...

Marked up with additional text in the notes.

 

Should this be a venn or is it a pyramid?

 

For more information:

Transparency, Publicity, Accountability – The missing links

Daniel Nauri

Paper for the CONNEX-RG 2 workshop on “Delegation and Mechanisms of Accountability

in the EU”, Uppsala 8-9 March 2007.

 

www.mzes.uni-mannheim.de/projekte/typo3/site/fileadmin/re...

The Government of the Netherlands, the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court and the European Commission are hosting an Ukraine Accountability Conference at ministerial level at the World Forum in The Hague, The Netherlands, on 14 July 2022.

© Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs 2022

 

Gateway Camp Verse

(Pin1) Ging1 Mahn4

Isaiah 62:10

 

What Dale instructed about going out of our way to treat the Mainland Chinese well resonated within me. To be sure, just as the Koreans have gone out of their way to bless me so I must step out to bless and to love my Mainland brethren.

 

After the first meeting, Ed and I wandered off campus and found inside a shopping mall a cha chaan teng where we had a late-night snack. And hardly had we tucked into our meals when in walked several dozen volunteers, all locals, who were overcome, it seemed, by the same munchies that infected Ed and me. It’s surprising how such a primal urge, at such a time, drives everyone to no less than the same, impossibly far location.

 

I thus far have met so many people that, had I not brought along my iPod, I would have already lost track of the multitudinous names flying around like fireflies at night, sparkling luminously one moment and then disappearing the next. And this is only the beginning: more and more people will arrive both today and tomorrow so I had better stay awake, alert, and writing.

 

I am working with a partner who really challenges me, and indeed that is why I chose to work with him. From the first words that came streaming out of his mouth, I knew he would be a special one, and as if to conifrm my conjecture, indeed, the more he spoke, the more confused I became. The challenge, I have realized after much ruminating, isn’t so much the pace of his speech as his choice of words, which fall outside a normal lexical range; that is, at least with me, when he talks, he doesn’t use familiar collocations to communicate; besides, he has an uncanny Tin Shui Wai accent; those, along with his amazing resistance to Chinglish, which impresses me, by the way, have made our communication tedious, since I am bombarded by peculiar lexical constructions that I generally never encounter in Cantonese conversation and must therefore stop our flow to clarify his speech. It’s too bad that he doesn’t speak English as I would love to hear how he structures ideas in my native language to determine whether or not this strange lexis has spilled over into his other modes of communication.

 

Regardless, in being with him, I have learned to be patient, and if I am truly to walk away from resentment, I must continue rather to engage him than to keep him at arm’s length. It helps us, then, that he is a congenial fellow, prone more to expressing love, much in the same way that I do by warmly grabbing a forearm or a shoulder, than to venting his frustration, which with me could certainly be great. He is verily a good guy, and so long as the Lord keeps him — I am sure Daddy will — Tin Shui Wai, that small patch of concrete moon colony, is in capable, faithful human hands.

 

Sau2 muhn6 je2

Mihng6 dihng6

Kyuhn4 lihk6

Lihk6 leuhng6

Chong3 yi3 adjective

Chong3 jouh6 verb

 

Romans 5:3-5

 

Not only so, but we rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us.

 

I cried this morning when I read these words, because they are true, and comfort my soul as water to a dry, parched land. However many times I’ve lamented this place and its people, I am still inextricably tied to this rock, per God’s will for my life; and God really is faithful in providing a way out not from this place but from these spiritual hindrances. These past few days, what with communication failures and fatigue setting in, I could have more easily give into my rationality, in defense of my weaknesses, than resisted this bait of satan. Thank God, hence, for the words which are like fuel for the refiner’s fire that burns up all my expectations, my pride and my flesh. I can survive, nay, rejoice, indeed, because of God, who, in me, day by day teaches me to suffer long with a smile.

 

This is what the gateway is all about, I believe: jumping head-first out of my comfort zone to confront the nations, for my brothers and sisters and I must face each other if we are to raise the banners together. Battling through enemy strongholds of mistrust ad resentment, we demolish carnal thoughts and dig deep in the Spirit for the unity that shall overcome as much language as culture; God, after all, is bigger, even, than the battlefield. In these ways can my brethren and I love each other as ourselves, as we shall be one in the Father, with audacious power and boldness laying hands on His kingdom which advances, in this kairos moment, over all of China, including, no doubt, Hong Kong. No longer will there be curses thrown upon the nations; but rather the river of life will flow through the city, and the leaves of the tree on each side of the river will be for the healing of the nations.

 

1) Welcoming the Father

2) Unifying the body

3) Partnering with the Chinese

4) Serving the city

5) Supporting the Chinese

 

Isaac and I have worked quite hard this morning, putting up signs all over campus, and as if to reward me for my assiduity, he offered to buy me a drink, an offer which I took up. Indeed, this man’s care and concern for others, genuine, doubtlessly, fills me with joy, for, to be sure, the joy of the lord is his strength. My friend is indefatigable, always encouraging and never slighting, no matter the circumstances, rain (that has happened a lot today) or shine. Praise God!

 

Much like my relationship with Isaac, my relationships with my other team members have improved considerably since, even, this morning’s briefing during which, the code-switching, happening too fast and too furiously for my comfort, vexed me so terribly that if Isaac had not put a generous arm around my shoulder immediately afterwards, I surely would have blown my top in frustration at the perplexing language option. Thankfully, my team and I settled our language arrangements: Isaac, Dorcas and I will intractably speak Cantonese to each other whereas my other group mates and I will use English with as little code-switching as possible; and I, along with Ed, no doubt, am satisfied. It’s best to avoid misunderstandings.

 

Lihng4 Mahn4 (soul)

Sihng4 jeung2

Muhng6 Seung2 (dreams)

 

The Lord’s mercies are new everyday. Just now, during the morning rally, by His Spirit, hundreds of brothers and sisters received a new anointing, to be spiritual mothers and fathers of a new generation so as to minister to the next. This outpouring of the Spirit was sudden, and so captivated me that when the call came to reap, I rushed to the front to ask my father for this anointing, and naturally, my life was transformed. In the same way, the pastor called up a new generation of spiritual children to receive the love, care and support of these new parents; and likewise, so many young men and women heeded this call that verily, the pit in front of the stage was soon awash in hugs and tears between generations that, once lost, were now found. Indeed, no sooner did these people embrace their father than Dad immediately swept them up in his strong arms and showered them with audacious encouragement and support. Praise God!

 

An Outburst

 

I was angry this morning during our team time. I temporarily lost my ability to be merciful and to live in God’s grace. When my team leader began to address me in English, yet again, I couldn’t help but berate him for doing so when Cantonese, I argued, would be a more economical medium of delivery. And then I compounded this already incendiary situation by ranting about the hypocrisy of Hong Kong being a gateway to China but not a gateway into its own neighborhoods teeming with Chinese people, 97% of whom, according to one of the pastors at this camp, do not know the Lord Jesus. Cantonese will matter, I posit, if anyone dares to take on the onerous mission in this vexing place.

 

To be sure, even my brother announced that language was a prohibitive barrier to closer relationships with these local people, and therefore, since he neither speaks Cantonese nor is going to give learning the language a go, he is relegated to the outer walls of the gates into Hong Kong.

 

In hindsight, I thought I cared enough about God’s purposes for me in Hong Kong, but I realize now that I still care a lot about myself, and resentment. Though I have prayed and declared boldly that God is bigger than language and culture, I know I don’t believe it; and that’s upsetting. For the time being, I don’t verily believe in my heart that I can have deeper, closer relationships with Chinese people without the benefit of language and culture, patterns of action.

 

OK. This is actually an opportune start for my spiritual parentship, for now I have an opportunity to put aside my very compelling arguments for the necessity of language and culture in deep and close relationships, these conclusions born out of my reason, and to step out in faith, to trust in the Lord who, I pray, will show me deep and close relationships sans language and culture, and with whom my deep and close relationship shall obviously be the key to this victory.

 

I’m thinking about events at this camp that heretofore demonstrated loving relationships without language and culture, and I recalled two acts: the first happened yesterday when I spontaneously joined a line of ushers to high-five and to cheer the audience as they flooded out of the auditorium, the morning rally having scarcely finished; and the second, this was my meeting Yao, a man from the Ivory Coast, whom I befriended in those first, fleeting, if not frantic moments before the opening rally on Friday evening. That encounter was immediate and sudden, neither words nor habits needed; Yao and I simply high-fived, hugged and sat beside each other; and wow, that was terrific companionship — praise God!

 

Finally, however hard my diatribe may have struck my team members’ hearts, my merciful group mates still forgave me, not only on an personal level, but also, as I had sought forgiveness on behalf of all foreigners who have ever cursed locals or stood passively outside the gateway, on a corporate level, thereby releasing countless non-Chinese people into the freedom of these Hong Kong people’s forgiveness; just as brothers and sisters had so recently been reconciled to each other in my church, so local and non-local people have received the others’ freedom of forgiveness; more than a homecoming, that, indeed, is a breakthrough.

 

In listening to this morning’s sermon, I hear such verses as I know God is speaking to me through His word. 2Corinthians 4:16-18, this scripture in particular carries a buoyant, hopeful currency in my heart. My spirit soaks in this divine revelation as a sponge soaks in water and thus becomes malleable, able to be formed and shaped according to its holder’s will: Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

 

Disagreeable

 

I don’t know why my brother and I undermine each others’ comments; why we no more know consensus than the deaf music. Our interactions have been especially abrasive recently since we have spent so much time together without the benefit of our other brother to act as a natural, vociferous buffer; and as a result we argue like pieces of sand paper being rubbed against flesh, which inevitably leads to significant soreness. I feel sore now.

 

I think back to my outburst this morning and can appreciate my role in this evening’s embarrassing outcome; I am certainly not without fault, for I choose these days not only to venture my opinions but to do so passionately, if not emotionally. People consequently who otherwise are phlegmatic at best are put in a discomfiting position by my impassioned pleas. Besides, I recall Interrupting my brother prolifically, which understandably would not make him a happy camper; just as a hyperactive child doesn’t know when to stop pestering his sibling, so I don’t know nowadays when to hold my tongue. Indeed, I would rather not respond at all to my brother, even after he has fired off his rejoinder, than to strike him down in mid-speech.

 

In view of this latest incident, I have resolved to take the former course of action. To be sure, I simply stopped our petty dispute about a stupid basketball game by, awkward as it was, taking out my book and perusing it as fixedly as my tattered mind would allow. I will try my best to stay away from my brother for a spell, to create physical and spiritual space between us, so hopefully, in this way at least one of us will be able to come to his senses about this matter; better yet, now would be an opportune time for our father in his mercy to reveal to us the fault lines in our flesh so that we could surrender these tremulous spots in our soul, crucifying them to the father for our healing and the redemption of our relationship. I will pray about this.

 

…Praise God. If I had not separated myself from my brother’s presence, I wouldn’t have been sitting at that bench at the exact moment when Isaac came over to me in a plaintive mood. Obviously upset, he had been so recently wronged, he lamented on the verge of tears. And at that, mercy swept over my countenance, for my brother felt as aggrieved as I did earlier; and this appointment, per God’s unfailing, obstinate love, had at last come for me, convicting me to be very, very agreeable, sympathetic and kind to my fellow long-suffering brother. In this instance, thank God, language did not matter so much as empathy, carrying each others’ burdens and thus fulfilling the rule of Christ. We prayed and blessed each other in Jesus’ name, and then boldly went forward into the rally.

 

I suspect the enemy has infiltrated our team what with my outbursts and Isaac’s failing out as evidence. My group mates and I must be more vigilant in prayer and in digging deep into the Father’s word if we are to overcome the spies in our camp that have planted incendiary devices in our mouths and in our hearts. We certainly need such encouragement as the Lord provides for the edification and encouragement of each other, even more so, in fact, in the face of adversity, despite our fatigue and other physical ills that befall us like a hail of arrows. In faith, I’m sure, faith will see us through; and per what the pastors exhorted at the rally, we will become as if the smooth stone in David’s sling, ready to fly into the air to crush the Goliath in this world.

 

Sihng4 jauh6 achievement

Ngwuih misunderstanding

Nggaai2 to misunderstand

Yuhn4 leuhng6 forgive

Gaan2syun2 chosen

 

The Security Guard

 

At the morning rally, a security guard left an indelible impression on my heart what with her showing of unconditional support and her proffering of words of encouragement, which like a waterfall fell in force and power over my friends and me. To my amazement, I first saw her out of the corner of my eye stepping out of her role as a security guard to pray as a spiritual parent to two spiritual children during the morning rally’s prayer time; there she was, clad in her blue uniform, laying hands on those weeping kids; finally, I had witnessed someone courageous enough to step out of that rule of law, her boundary in Hong Kong, to be bound to that which is ethereal, the rule of Christ to carry each others’ burdens. Later, as the audience passed through the exit, I had time to confirm her love for the Lord and at that, we broke into a torrent of encouragement and followed this with a flurry of picture-taking. Indeed, never have I stumbled upon such good will from a dragon security guard in HK so I am hopeful, therefore, that this is but the the start of a greater movement within that particular demon-worshipping core, that at this time, God is opening up the heavenly armory and placing his prayer warriors inside that particular stronghold in Hong Kong to demolish every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God and placing in its stead a profusion of love, gentleness and kindness. I look forward to the day when wisdom, and not languid stares, shall emanate from all the people who man the facilities in these universities.

 

Reconciliation

 

This is special. No sooner had Isaac and I stepped into the auditorium than we heard the plaintive cry of the mainland Chinese on the stage forgiving the Hong Kong people for their trespasses against their brethren from the north. A flurry of hugs, replete with a few tears, ensued. That was, as Dale announced from the stage, a delicious moment. Jesus must have been breaking out the good champagne in heaven for a rousing celebration in view of this victory.

 

Sex Talk – Part One

 

The kids finally received the sex talk this morning; a fiery pastor delivered the message which was as much shocking as informative; and gasps and wincing abounded in the audience.

 

While I have recently heard the sex talk at the men’s retreat, and have furthermore by God’s grace been inoculated against this particular area of struggle, it was nonetheless refreshing to hear the news, as shocking and as sensational as it was. I am willing, in addition, to believe that some of the atrocious acts that the pastor referenced, such as gruesome abortions and bizarre sexual acts, are more prevalent than my reason will believe, because my scope is limited by experience, but as the Father witnesses everything, if the Spirit has convicted this man and has told him that the world is heading closer and closer into the mouth of Jezebel in this way, I accept this. In fact, believing this is important if I am to be a good spiritual parent who will not only protect but educate the new generation from the prowling enemy that lurks these days, even, in our computers.

 

Prayer

 

The Holy Spirit fell over me this morning during my group’s team time. He convicted me to pray in Cantonese for the first time, and so I did without fear, those Chinese words pouring out of me as if perfume from an alabaster jar. Praise God: he is good; and this was the moment I have been waiting for.

 

I think about what happened, and am amazed at the Father’s favor; despite my critiques against this culture, and in spite of my recent lamentations, the Lord, ever faithfully, provided a way out under which I could stand and by which I could be protected from the bait of Satan. Little did I know that the escape route would, in fact, ironically, direct me to the very thing that heretofore has stood as an obstruction, a spiritual roadblock, in my mind.

 

A missionary on the stage just spoke into my life when she said about her experience learning Putonghua in China: the difficult part was not learning the language but learning to love those people as Jesus loves them. This will always be my mission, no matter where I am.

 

Keuhng4 jong3

Lai1 hei2 (pull up)

 

In the afternoon, my team had a reconciliation meeting during which, in small groups, each team member at last was given an opportunity to share alternately their joys and struggles. At that time, though having staved off an open rebuke for several days, I could no longer hold back this challenge to my small group: to step out in faith to be a gateway to the nations; and second, per the morning’s message, to on their guard against the sexually explicit, insidious media. I laid out my argument with much cogency, and such a response as I saw fit knocked my group mates into a stupor, because they certainly didn’t have much to say afterwards.

 

Oscillate between…and…

Vacillate…

Equivocated

Prevaricate

 

Sex Talk – Part Two

 

1) Jesus came to show us the Father; John1:18

2) Grace First, Truth Second; John 1:24:25; 16-18

 

Pahn4 mohng6 (hope)

 

Do you believe that Jesus can heal you? Then lay hands.

 

Dale and I are men who have shared similar struggles. His testimony is riveting.

 

Suddenly, I realized that this rally is, in fact, a continuation of yesterday morning’s sex talk, because we ended the previous rally praying more against the shame of abortion than against personal sexual immorality. Notionally, what is being discussed will enable people to really experience the love of the Father such that to change permanently our behavior. So when we are tempted:

 

1) Call for help; Romans 10:13

2) Escape Plan; 1Corinthians 10:13

 

Remember not to stand and rebuke the enemy with your own strength; move physically from the situation.

 

3) Run Away; 2Timothy 2:22

4) Into the Father’s Arms; Hebrews 4:14

 

I like this talk. This might be the first time that these young people get straight sex talk from their leaders; and there is no better time than now for these young people to break through in this particular area of struggle, just as the young men of SP broke through these obstinate barriers during our men’s retreat.

 

5) Confess and be Healed; James 5:16

 

I hope these young people find faithful accountability brothers and sisters in this service.

 

6) Walk in Transparent Accountable Relationships; 1John 1:7

7) Resist the Enemy; James 4:7

Minneapolis, Minnesota

 

May 21, 2013

 

Around 20 protesters rallied outside the Hennepin County Government Center in Minneapolis. They called for more accountability in the banking industry, demanded the Obama administration prosecute bankers for their role in the financial crisis of 2008 and called for relief for families and communities devastated by foreclosures. This event was in solidarity with Wall Street Accountability Week of Action in Washington, D.C., May 18-23.

 

Signs read:

STAND TOGETHER

STOP

FORECLOSURES

STOP EVICTIONS

occupyhomesmn.org

 

2013-05-21 This is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License. Give attribution for: Fibonacci Blue

 

With the lovely Danelia Dust.

Governor Hogan Signs an Executive Order Regarding School Accountability Initiatives. by Joe Andrucyk at Governors Reception Room, 100 State Circle, Annapolis MD 21401

Scenes from the High Level Political Forum (HLPF) Side Event: A Feminist Accountability Framework: What the World Needs to Achieve Gender Equality and All the Sustainable Development Goals, co-sponsored by ICRW and its partners Equal Measures 2030, Save the Children, Global Citizen, Women's Environment & Development Organization (WEDO), UN Women, the Government of Costa Rica, and the Government of Zambia. Held at the Church Centre in New York on 18 July 2017.

 

Pictured Above: Charlotte Bunch, Founding Director and Senior Scholar, at the Center for Women's Global Leadership, Rutgers University

 

Speakers included:

Eleanor Blomstrom, Co-Director and Head of Office at WEDO, Women’s Major Group Chair

 

Charlotte Bunch, Founding Director and Senior Scholar, at the Center for Women's Global Leadership, Rutgers University

 

Lakshmi Puri, Deputy Executive Director of UN Women

 

Ambassador Rolando Castro, Deputy Permanent Representative of the Permanent of Costa Rica to the United Nations

 

Wallace Nguluwe, Gender Specialist, Ministry of Gender, Zambia

 

Sai Jyothirmai Racherla, Program Director, ARROW (representing Women’s Major Group)

 

Alison Holder, Director, Equal Measures 2030

 

Jenny Ottenhoff, Policy Director, Global Health at ONE

 

Grace Choi, Associate Director for Global Gender Policy & Advocacy, Save the Children USA

 

Photo: UN Women/Ryan Brown

Zag - bit.ly/1Ohf1bl

 

Who's accountable?

Photo by Eric Ziegler (@ericzigus)

 

When I first joined my latest team, I specifically went and met with each team that reported up to me. As I did my introductions, I let my teams all know that I am a big fan of soccer, so much so that I even play.

Because I am who I am, I read many different blogs and listen to many different podcasts that cover topics that span topics such as leadership, soccer, and technology. I read and listen to podcasts to stay up on the latest trends and to keep abreast of the latest things happening on things I am passionate about.

Recently, I was listening to the soccer podcast, Men in Blazers (@meninblazers +Men In Blazers) .(btw, I highly recommend listening to these gentlemen if you like soccer. Not only are they informative, they are rather funny). During a recent podcast, they were interviewing Jose Mourinho, the current manager of Chelsea. As I listened to the interview, he provided insights that I believe apply to any team anywhere, especially teams that in companies.

These insights were about how the team is the most important thing, and that individuals are important as part of the team. This sentiment is absolutely important for any long running successful teams.

"It's about the team, not the individual"

"The manager is no more or less important than the individuals on the team"

 

Why would he say these statements? He hints at holding the individuals accountable for their actions, even the manager.

 

He uses an example in the podcast to get his point across, There is a section in the podcast where he talks about the bus leaving on time. You could take it as a control from the top, but listen carefully on how he talks about the situation. He says that the team has agreed that at 9 am the bus will leave. And if you are not on the bus at 9 am, the bus leaves without you, because the team agreed it would leave at 9am. And if the manager is not on the bus at 9am? the bus leaves without the manager.

While you might think this is a power game for Jose, I look at it differently. What he is saying is that the team is important, and to hold the team back because someone was not holding themselves accountable to being on time is not acceptable. Hence, each person is accountable for their actions and accountable for making sure the team meets the team goals.

This image is excerpted from a U.S. GAO report:

www.gao.gov/products/GAO-19-590

 

U.S. ASSISTANCE TO CENTRAL AMERICA: Department of State Should Establish a Comprehensive Plan to Assess Progress toward Prosperity, Governance, and Security

This image is excerpted from a U.S. GAO report:

www.gao.gov/products/GAO-20-126

 

CLOUD COMPUTING SECURITY: Agencies Increased Their Use of the Federal Authorization Program, but Improved Oversight and Implementation Are Needed

 

Note: The 24 Chief Financial Officers Act agencies are the Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, Education, Energy, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, Housing and Urban Development, the Interior, Justice, Labor, State, Transportation, the Treasury, and Veterans Affairs; the Environmental Protection Agency, General Services Administration, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, National Science Foundation, Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Office of Personnel Management, Small Business Administration, and Social Security Administration, and the United States Agency for International Development.

This image is excerpted from a U.S. GAO report:

www.gao.gov/products/GAO-20-590G

 

AGILE ASSESSMENT GUIDE: Best Practices for Agile Adoption and Implementation

This image is excerpted from a U.S. GAO report:

www.gao.gov/products/GAO-16-685

 

ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS: Additional Steps Needed for Review and Revision of Water Control Manuals

 

The conservation storage pool may be used for hydropower generation, water supply, recreation, and navigation, among other uses, and the inactive storage pool collects sediment.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams holds a rally with union leaders for mayoral accountability on the steps of City Hall on Monday, May 9, 2022. Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office

A slide from my presentation at TCEA in February 2006, "Cultivating Digital Literacy Through Blogging and Podcasting." (Available as an audio-only podcast and enhanced podcast.)

3 May 2019 - Panelists discussed the experiences of the past 3 years documented in the 2018 Learning Report on Implementation of the Accountability Mechanism Policy at the 52nd ADB Annual Meeting.

 

Visit the event page for more information on this event and the list of speakers.

Scenes from the High Level Political Forum (HLPF) Side Event: A Feminist Accountability Framework: What the World Needs to Achieve Gender Equality and All the Sustainable Development Goals, co-sponsored by ICRW and its partners Equal Measures 2030, Save the Children, Global Citizen, Women's Environment & Development Organization (WEDO), UN Women, the Government of Costa Rica, and the Government of Zambia. Held at the Church Centre in New York on 18 July 2017.

 

Pictured Above: Eleanor Blomstrom, Co-Director and Head of Office at WEDO, Women’s Major Group Chair

 

Speakers included:

Eleanor Blomstrom, Co-Director and Head of Office at WEDO, Women’s Major Group Chair

 

Charlotte Bunch, Founding Director and Senior Scholar, at the Center for Women's Global Leadership, Rutgers University

 

Lakshmi Puri, Deputy Executive Director of UN Women

 

Ambassador Rolando Castro, Deputy Permanent Representative of the Permanent of Costa Rica to the United Nations

 

Wallace Nguluwe, Gender Specialist, Ministry of Gender, Zambia

 

Sai Jyothirmai Racherla, Program Director, ARROW (representing Women’s Major Group)

 

Alison Holder, Director, Equal Measures 2030

 

Jenny Ottenhoff, Policy Director, Global Health at ONE

 

Grace Choi, Associate Director for Global Gender Policy & Advocacy, Save the Children USA

 

Photo: UN Women/Ryan Brown

Supporting Social Accountability For Better Results Event at the 2012 Spring Meetings of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund in Washington, D.C. on April 19, 2012.

Robert Zoellick, President, The World Bank; Maya Harris, Vice President, Democracy, Rights and Justice Program, Ford Foundation; Laila Iskandar Kamel, Managing Director, Community and Institutional Development Group, Egypt; Corazon “Dinky” Juliano Soliman ,Secretary, Department of Social Welfare and Development, Philippines; Sam Worthington, President and CEO, InterAction.

Photo by Ryan Rayburn/World Bank

U.S. Army Africa Lt. Col. Stephen Salerno addresses officers and support personnel of the Chadian armed forces upon completion of military legal education in N'Dajema, September 2010.

 

U.S. Army photo by Capt. Chayah Saahene

 

Judge Advocates Lt. Col. Stephen Salerno and Lt. Col. Timothy Tuckey of U.S. Army Africa’s Office of the Staff Judge Advocate (OSJA) recently returned from two weeks in Chad and the Democratic Republic of Congo, respectively, where they conducted legal education courses for a program hosted by the Defense Institute for International Legal Studies.

 

Salerno is a civilian attorney adviser in Army Africa’s OSJA, and a lieutenant colonel in the 91st Legal Support Office. Tuckey works in the international law section of Army Africa OSJA. The courses provided legal education and resources to military and related civilian personnel in two of Army Africa’s partner nations.

 

When DIILS, a leading defense security cooperation resource for professional legal education, training, and rule of law programs, requested two experienced attorneys to travel to Africa for two weeks to teach law courses, U.S. Africa Command answered the call and U.S. Army Africa provided Salerno and Tuckey as the manpower.

 

Salerno’s Chad DIILS class, which took place in the warm and slightly rainy capital city, N’Djamena, focused on mentoring forces to combat corruption. Salerno taught courses that specifically addressed corruption in post-conflict societies, procurement corruption, transparency and accountability.

 

Salerno’s students consisted of approximately 90 high-level members of the Chadian military, law enforcement, government agencies, non-governmental organizations and the media. With two Togolese interpreters at hand, Salerno communicated via simultaneous interpretation into French. Lectures were augmented by practical exercises of group problem solving. Students wore everything from vibrantly colored tribal dress to three-piece suits and artistically designed henna tattoos, Salerno said.

 

“In an animated discussion about the importance of transparency and accountability, one student replied that it is up to us, the people in this room, to effect change and fight corruption in Chad,” said Salerno. “Seeing education evolve into empowerment is extremely rewarding.”

 

Tuckey’s program in the Democratic Republic of Congo focused on mentoring Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo (FARDC) forces to maintain good order and discipline through the development of a professional military. Class topics included command responsibility, the law of armed conflict, humanitarian law, sexual violence, ethics and corruption, he said.

 

Tuckey spent the first week training 39 officers of 1st Region FARDC staff in Bandundu, in a makeshift classroom crafted from a room inside a restaurant. and the second week working with 44 field-grade officers at the general headquarters of Ituri’s Operational Zone in Bunia.

 

His interpreter spoke mostly French, but also incorporated Lingala, the universal language of the Congolese military, into the presentation, Tuckey said.

 

“Some of these students have been in the military for a long period of time and some are former rebels who have only recently been incorporated into the military force,” he said.

 

The Democratic Republic of Congo has had an ongoing internal armed conflict, Tuckey said.

 

“It is really a testament of their professionalism to see such a mixture of students sitting side-by-side in a classroom learning together,” he said.

  

To learn more about U.S. Army Africa visit our official website at www.usaraf.army.mil

 

Official Twitter Feed: www.twitter.com/usarmyafrica

 

Official YouTube video channel: www.youtube.com/usarmyafrica

 

"“Having ready access to a doctor is vital to high quality healthcare. Yet the busy schedules of consumers and physicians alike often prevent timely attention to routine and urgent healthcare problems in the traditional 9 to 5 physician office visit options. Digital technologies can help overcome the barriers to accessing medical care, yet our survey shows that these tools are not available to most Americans,” said Robert Pearl, M.D., Chairman of the Council of Accountable Physician Practices and CEO of The Permanente Medical Group and the Mid-Atlantic Permanente Medical Group. “Healthcare providers must step up our adoption of these common-sense and available solutions if we are truly going to reform healthcare delivery.” - See www.bettertogetherhealth.org for event webcast - Hosted at the Kaiser Permanente Center for Total Health on November 4, 2015

Scenes from the High Level Political Forum (HLPF) Side Event: A Feminist Accountability Framework: What the World Needs to Achieve Gender Equality and All the Sustainable Development Goals, co-sponsored by ICRW and its partners Equal Measures 2030, Save the Children, Global Citizen, Women's Environment & Development Organization (WEDO), UN Women, the Government of Costa Rica, and the Government of Zambia. Held at the Church Centre in New York on 18 July 2017.

 

Pictured Above: Sai Jyothirmai Racherla, Program Director, ARROW

 

Eleanor Blomstrom, Co-Director and Head of Office at WEDO, Women’s Major Group Chair

 

Charlotte Bunch, Founding Director and Senior Scholar, at the Center for Women's Global Leadership, Rutgers University

 

Lakshmi Puri, Deputy Executive Director of UN Women

 

Ambassador Rolando Castro, Deputy Permanent Representative of the Permanent of Costa Rica to the United Nations

 

Wallace Nguluwe, Gender Specialist, Ministry of Gender, Zambia

 

Sai Jyothirmai Racherla, Program Director, ARROW (representing Women’s Major Group)

 

Alison Holder, Director, Equal Measures 2030

 

Jenny Ottenhoff, Policy Director, Global Health at ONE

 

Grace Choi, Associate Director for Global Gender Policy & Advocacy, Save the Children USA

 

Photo: UN Women/Ryan Brown

 

On Twitter: twitter.com/UN_Women/status/887394069361680385

I've heard that there are people who don't take kindly to oversight, measurement, record keeping, rules, accountability… I'm rather fond of these notions. They're our benchmarks, those things that, provided the trustees can be trusted, keep things all safe and sound.

 

After paying for my parking and heading out and away from where I was to where I wanted to be, I spotted this, embedded in the concrete.

 

Knowing where I am, I'm prepared to bet the farm that this concrete is anchored on the bedrock of Capital Hill. Deeper in, and there's a void that Guy Fawkes would yearn for. I can't show you that, hush, hush. I suppose this car park concrete went in early, before the whole lot was capped with the decorative and symbolic forecourt above, everything sitting on pillars of more concrete, and steel.

 

Those big things? They are all founded on little things, layer by layer. Neglect any one of those little things, or ignore them, layer by layer, and eventually the whole lot will come tumbling down. That's why I'm focussed on the little things, and getting out of this carpark…

The Inspection Panel is completing 25 years in its role, as an accountability mechanism of the World Bank. As you are aware, the Bank’s failure to comply with its operating policies was seen by the entire world in the Bank’s financing with the Sardar Sarovar Dam project on River Narmada. The tenacity of massive grass-roots uprisings from our communities in the 80’s and the sustained hard work of our social movements along with our resoluteness to link it with international coalitions to question the hegemony of the Bank, subsequently led the Bank, for the first time, to commission an independent review of its project. The Independent Review Committee (Morse Committee) constituted by the Bank in 1991 to review the social and environmental costs and benefits of the dam, after years of consistent struggle by Narmada Bachao Andolan (Save Narmada Movement) and its allies led to a demand from the civil society around the globe for the creation of a grievance redressal system for project-affected communities, which ultimately pressurized the Bank to constitute the Inspection Panel in 1993. We expected this might be a crucial backstop and an opportunity for us to raise our issues of livelihoods, economic loss, displacement from our lands, alienation from natural resources, destruction of environment and threat to our biodiversity and cultural hotspots, where Bank invested in large, supposedly ‘development’ projects like mega dams, energy and other infrastructure projects. Yet, the outcome we expected rarely delivered sufficient remedy for the harm and losses people have experienced over the years.

 

A number of accountability mechanisms over the next couple of decades in several development finance institutions were formed following the model of World Bank, commonly known as ‘Independent Accountability Mechanisms’[IAMs]. Each year the number of complaints rise which is an indication of the increasing number of grievous projects happening around the world. While IAMs of most MDBs are advertised to provide strong and just processes, many of our experiences imply that the banks are accommodating practices which suit their own needs and their clients, which are borrowing countries and agencies, and not the people for whom the IAMs were built to serve.

 

Many a time, we have been disappointed by these mechanisms, since these are designed by the banks who are lending for disastrous projects in our lands. And as a result, the already existing narrow mandate of IAMs is further restricted.

 

In our efforts to hold the lending bank accountable, the communities are always presented with the arduous process of learning the complex formalities and detailed procedures to initially approach the IAMs and get our grievances registered. Our many years’ time and energy then is channelised into seeing through the various cycles of these complaint handling mechanisms, that our entire efforts go into this process, and often our complaint gets dropped off in midst of the procedural rules of the IAMs. People are made to wait many months to clear procedural levels and our cases with the IAMs get highly unpredictable. Further, we face intimidation and reprisals from the state and project agencies for having contacted the IAMs who themselves do not possess any authority to address the violations hurled out to us when we seek dignity, fair treatment and justice from them. There are many of us who feel a loss of morale after long years of struggling with lenders when we fail to see concrete benefits or changes in our circumstances, by which time considerable irreplaceable harm is already done to our lives, environment and livelihoods.

 

In this manner, our immediate and larger goal of holding banks for their failure to consult with and obtain consent from communities before devising action plans for our lands, water and forests is deflected in the pretext of problem-solving and grievance hearing offered to us in the name of IAMs.

 

With over 50 registered complaints sent to different IAMS from India in the past 25 years, many more left unregistered due to technical reasons and only a few got investigated, assessed and monitored at different levels, we have a baggage of mixed experiences with the IAMs. A few of the prominent cases from India apart from Narmada project are Vishnugad Pipalkoti Hydro Electric Project [WB’s IP], Tata Mega Ultra-01/Mundra and Anjar [IFC’s CAO & ADB’s CRP], India Infrastructure Fund-01/Dhenkanal District [IFC’s CAO], Allain Duhangan Hydro Power Limited-01/Himachal Pradesh [IFC’s CAO] and Mumbai Urban Transport Project (2009) [WB’s IP].

 

As we now know, what is being witnessed recently is an influx of approved and proposed investments majorly in energy, transport, steel, roads, urban projects, bullet trains, industrial zones/corridors, smart cities, water privatization and other mega projects in India. This has been financed from different multilateral and bilateral sources, foreign corporations, private banks as well as Export-Import Banks (ExIm Banks). It has become a brutal challenge for communities, social movements and CSOs, with lenders and governments constantly shutting their eyes and ears to us who demand accountability for their actions. A compelling and timely need has arisen among diverse groups amongst us to gather together and critically analyze the various trajectories of our engagements with accountability mechanisms of MDBs in order to bring together past 25 years’ learning, insights and reflections of various actors of this accountability process. This urging demand is also an attempt to define the collective experiences in India among our social movements, projected-affected communities and CSOs with IAMs and lending banks, especially appropriating the global political opportunity of Inspection Panel celebrating its 25 years this year.

 

Speakers:

Thomas Franco, Former General Secretary, AlI India Bank Officers’ Confederation

Arun Kumar, Eminent scholar, Former Professor Jawaharlal Nehru University

C.P. Chandrashekar, Economist, Professor Centre for Economic Studies and Planning, Jawaharlal Nehru University

Sucheta Dalal, Managing Editor, Moneylife

Soumya Dutta, National Convener, Bharat Jan Vigyan Jatha

Dunu Roy, Hazards Center, New Delhi

Medha Patkar, Senior Activist, Narmada Bachao Andolan

Tani Alex, Centre for Financial Accountability

M J Vijayan, Activist and Political commentator

Joe Athialy, Centre for Financial Accountability

Anirudha Nagar, Accountability Counsel

Madhuresh Kumar, National Alliance of People’s Movements

A J Vijayan, Chairperson, Western Ghats and Coastal area Protection Forum

Meera Sanghamitra, National Aliance of People’s Movements

Vimal bhai, Matu Jan Sangathan, Uttarakhand

Daniel Adler, Senior Specialist, Compliance Advisor Ombudsman

Joe Athialy, Centre for Financial Accountability

Birgit Kuba, Operations Officer, Inspection Panel

Anuradha Munshi, Centre for Financial Accountability

Bharat Patel, General Secretary, Machimar Adhikar Sangharsh Sangathan,Gujarat

Awadhesh Kumar, Srijan Lokhit Samiti

Amulya Kumar Nayak, Odisha Chas Parivesh Surekhsa Parishad, Odisha

Dr. Usha Ramanathan, Legal Scholar

Manshi Asher, Himdhara Environment Research and Action Collective, Himachal Pradesh

With the lovely Danelia Dust.

Scenes from the High Level Political Forum (HLPF) Side Event: A Feminist Accountability Framework: What the World Needs to Achieve Gender Equality and All the Sustainable Development Goals, co-sponsored by ICRW and its partners Equal Measures 2030, Save the Children, Global Citizen, Women's Environment & Development Organization (WEDO), UN Women, the Government of Costa Rica, and the Government of Zambia. Held at the Church Centre in New York on 18 July 2017.

 

Pictured Above: Ambassador Rolando Castro, Deputy Permanent Representative of the Permanent of Costa Rica to the United Nations

 

Speakers included:

Eleanor Blomstrom, Co-Director and Head of Office at WEDO, Women’s Major Group Chair

 

Charlotte Bunch, Founding Director and Senior Scholar, at the Center for Women's Global Leadership, Rutgers University

 

Lakshmi Puri, Deputy Executive Director of UN Women

 

Ambassador Rolando Castro, Deputy Permanent Representative of the Permanent of Costa Rica to the United Nations

 

Wallace Nguluwe, Gender Specialist, Ministry of Gender, Zambia

 

Sai Jyothirmai Racherla, Program Director, ARROW (representing Women’s Major Group)

 

Alison Holder, Director, Equal Measures 2030

 

Jenny Ottenhoff, Policy Director, Global Health at ONE

 

Grace Choi, Associate Director for Global Gender Policy & Advocacy, Save the Children USA

 

Photo: UN Women/Ryan Brown

 

On Twitter: twitter.com/UN_Women/status/887388056600399873

Excellent journalism, after all, has never been simply about information. It’s information provided to enable knowledge, published or broadcast as a public exchange by people accountable for its accuracy. Networks can enhance quality by linking the work of newspeople and many others to support journalism’s public service functions: accountability, timeliness and accessibility.- Melanie Sil, The Case for Open Journalism Now

www.annenberginnovationlab.org/OpenJournalism/

www.annenberginnovationlab.org/OpenJournalism/SillOpenJou... (PDF)

www.melaniesill.com

 

Slideshare

www.slideshare.net/planeta/journalism-notebook

Scenes from the High Level Political Forum (HLPF) Side Event: A Feminist Accountability Framework: What the World Needs to Achieve Gender Equality and All the Sustainable Development Goals, co-sponsored by ICRW and its partners Equal Measures 2030, Save the Children, Global Citizen, Women's Environment & Development Organization (WEDO), UN Women, the Government of Costa Rica, and the Government of Zambia. Held at the Church Centre in New York on 18 July 2017.

 

Speakers included:

Eleanor Blomstrom, Co-Director and Head of Office at WEDO, Women’s Major Group Chair

 

Charlotte Bunch, Founding Director and Senior Scholar, at the Center for Women's Global Leadership, Rutgers University

 

Lakshmi Puri, Deputy Executive Director of UN Women

 

Ambassador Rolando Castro, Deputy Permanent Representative of the Permanent of Costa Rica to the United Nations

 

Wallace Nguluwe, Gender Specialist, Ministry of Gender, Zambia

 

Sai Jyothirmai Racherla, Program Director, ARROW (representing Women’s Major Group)

 

Alison Holder, Director, Equal Measures 2030

 

Jenny Ottenhoff, Policy Director, Global Health at ONE

 

Grace Choi, Associate Director for Global Gender Policy & Advocacy, Save the Children USA

 

Photo: UN Women/Ryan Brown

a piece that i made in response the the immense greed in washington

Minneapolis, Minnesota

 

May 21, 2013

 

Around 20 protesters rallied outside the Hennepin County Government Center in Minneapolis. They called for more accountability in the banking industry, demanded the Obama administration prosecute bankers for their role in the financial crisis of 2008 and called for relief for families and communities devastated by foreclosures. This event was in solidarity with Wall Street Accountability Week of Action in Washington, D.C., May 18-23.

 

2013-05-21 This is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License. Give attribution for: Fibonacci Blue

 

Scenes from the High Level Political Forum (HLPF) Side Event: A Feminist Accountability Framework: What the World Needs to Achieve Gender Equality and All the Sustainable Development Goals, co-sponsored by ICRW and its partners Equal Measures 2030, Save the Children, Global Citizen, Women's Environment & Development Organization (WEDO), UN Women, the Government of Costa Rica, and the Government of Zambia. Held at the Church Centre in New York on 18 July 2017.

 

Pictured Above: Jenny Ottenhoff, Policy Director, Global Health at ONE

 

Eleanor Blomstrom, Co-Director and Head of Office at WEDO, Women’s Major Group Chair

 

Charlotte Bunch, Founding Director and Senior Scholar, at the Center for Women's Global Leadership, Rutgers University

 

Lakshmi Puri, Deputy Executive Director of UN Women

 

Ambassador Rolando Castro, Deputy Permanent Representative of the Permanent of Costa Rica to the United Nations

 

Wallace Nguluwe, Gender Specialist, Ministry of Gender, Zambia

 

Sai Jyothirmai Racherla, Program Director, ARROW (representing Women’s Major Group)

 

Alison Holder, Director, Equal Measures 2030

 

Jenny Ottenhoff, Policy Director, Global Health at ONE

 

Grace Choi, Associate Director for Global Gender Policy & Advocacy, Save the Children USA

 

Photo: UN Women/Ryan Brown

 

On Twitter: twitter.com/UN_Women/status/887394403370905601

As Many of us gathered around our flat screen TV's with family and friends or attended a fancy Oscar party, I decided to take some time to do a little street photography to capture images of daily life for many people who call the City of Angels home.

 

I think many people are surprised to learn that Los Angeles boasts the worlds 9th largest economy, but at the same time holds to distinction of the homeless capitol of the world.

 

It was very interesting to me that a movie about America's ugly and disgusting past was so well received, even taking best actress and best picture nominations. While another movie centered around HIV and AIDS. Both movies were awesome and I wish to congratulate the winners from each movie.

 

But before we skid down the yellow brick road holding hands and patting each other on the back and before we get this twisted any further let me drop some information on the subjects of homelessness which has been called the "new slavery" and the current numbers of HIV and AIDS.

 

According to the LA Times

"The number of homeless people in Los Angeles County jumped by 16% over the last two years, fueled by lingering economic devastation from the recession and rising rents and housing prices, according to a survey released."

 

"The sharp increase from 50,000 to more than 58,000 homeless people marked a departure from counts in 2011 and 2012, which showed reductions of 3% to 7% over previous years. And it came despite hundreds of millions of dollars in government aid pouring into the county each year to get people off the streets."

 

However, According Weingart Center, "an estimated 254,000 men, women and children experience homelessness in Los Angeles County during some part of the year and approximately 82,000 people are homeless on any given night. Unaccompanied youth, especially in the Hollywood area, are estimated to make up from 4,800 to 10,000 of these.

 

Although homeless people may be found throughout the county, the largest percentages are in South Los Angeles and Metro Los Angeles. Most are from the Los Angeles area and stay in or near the communities from which they came. About 14 to 18 percent of homeless adults in Los Angeles County are not U.S. citizens compared with 29% of adults overall. A high percentage - as high as 20 percent - are veterans. African Americans make up approximately half of the Los Angeles County homeless population - disproportionately high compared to the percentage of African Americans in the county overall (about 9 percent).

 

HIV and AIDS in Los Angeles

 

"More than 31,448 people have died of AIDS-related causes since the epidemic began.

More than 44,450 people are living with HIV, of which 24,600 are living with AIDS. Most are male (88%) and aged 40 or older (70%). An estimated 72% are gay or bisexual men, 7% of whom are also injection drug users.

 

Although African-Americans comprise less than 9% of the city’s population, they account for nearly 22% of those living with AIDS.

 

The communities with the highest numbers of people living with HIV/AIDS are Long Beach, Hollywood, West Hollywood and Downtown Los Angeles."

(source AIDS/LifeCycle)

 

Having lived through 29 months of homelessness I know the homeless numbers are much higher than reported and living with HIV and experiencing many obstacles to care and treatment I also know the numbers for HIV and AIDS are also higher.

 

I guess what I'm saying is this, we still have lots of work to do nationally when it comes to homelessness (slavery) as well as HIV and AIDS, but especially right here in Los Angeles. We cant simply continue to blame homelessness on homeless people or blame the economy. Just like we cant blame the rate of new infections and AIDS deaths in populations of color (Black and Latino) on stigma, guilt, shame, churches or families.

 

We MUST begin to hold the powers that be accountable for work they claim to be doing so well. We only need to look at the numbers to know that the problem ISN'T homeless people or Black and Latino churches, families and radio stations, but instead a clear breakdown of caring and knowing how to fully engage populations where homelessness, HIV and AIDS go unchecked.

 

It's easy to point the finger at people who have no voice. After all they are the fish in the fish bowl.

 

Again these two movies were awesome and the performances were award worthy, but so are the lives of people dealing with the harsh reality and ugly disrespect of homelessness and the often times degrading, disrespectful and stigma filled treatment towards people LIVING with HIV or AIDS by the very people, places and things we MUST turn to for help.

 

We have work to do because people are STILL in slavery and people still become infected with HIV and die in record numbers from AIDS related complications.

 

These men, women and children ALSO deserve to have their stories told, but most importantly the right to LIFE.

  

Scenes from the High Level Political Forum (HLPF) Side Event: A Feminist Accountability Framework: What the World Needs to Achieve Gender Equality and All the Sustainable Development Goals, co-sponsored by ICRW and its partners Equal Measures 2030, Save the Children, Global Citizen, Women's Environment & Development Organization (WEDO), UN Women, the Government of Costa Rica, and the Government of Zambia. Held at the Church Centre in New York on 18 July 2017.

 

Pictured Above: Wallace Nguluwe, Gender Specialist, Ministry of Gender, Zambia

 

Speakers included:

Eleanor Blomstrom, Co-Director and Head of Office at WEDO, Women’s Major Group Chair

 

Charlotte Bunch, Founding Director and Senior Scholar, at the Center for Women's Global Leadership, Rutgers University

 

Lakshmi Puri, Deputy Executive Director of UN Women

 

Ambassador Rolando Castro, Deputy Permanent Representative of the Permanent of Costa Rica to the United Nations

 

Wallace Nguluwe, Gender Specialist, Ministry of Gender, Zambia

 

Sai Jyothirmai Racherla, Program Director, ARROW (representing Women’s Major Group)

 

Alison Holder, Director, Equal Measures 2030

 

Jenny Ottenhoff, Policy Director, Global Health at ONE

 

Grace Choi, Associate Director for Global Gender Policy & Advocacy, Save the Children USA

 

Photo: UN Women/Ryan Brown

 

On Twitter: twitter.com/UN_Women/status/887388242462613504

In order to complete their duties, peacekeepers must remain fit, agile and ready to deploy on short notice.

 

UNFICYP military personnel, including Force Commander Maj Gen. Cheryl Pearce, recently completed a competitive training exercise to stay in top shape.

Staff Sgt. Tasha Falcon documents excess equipment disposal on Caserma Ederle Aug. 25.

 

This year’s U.S. Army Europe Supply Excellence Award winners are at it again, and they haven’t got much to show for it.

 

Not much, that is, in terms of the excess equipment and supply backlog that U.S. Army Africa, Headquarters Support Company, Supply team has just about eliminated since the command came into being in late 2008.

 

“Nobody really sees what it was like here two and a half years ago,” said Staff Sgt. Tasha Falcon, HSC Supply Seargent.

 

In that time, Falcon and her staff have accounted for, documented and removed 3,000 pieces of various equipment valued at $1.6 million from Army Africa’s inventory: military end items, computers, digital printers — a small mountain range of diverse material that wound up on the supply company’s to-do list in mid-2009.

 

“Nobody ever knew how to turn in equipment, I suppose,” Falcon said.

 

“When I first got here, there was nothing. The supply room had no system at all. We built this from scratch. It’s been about two and a half years of working on it. Now it’s a question of maintaining,” she said.

 

Whatever the source of the landslide of stuff that has made its way through the company’s motor pool on Caserma Ederle since then, Falcon and her crew have cleaned house with flying colors. HSC Supply has two back-to-back, first-place finishes in the annual Army Supply Excellence Award competition at the USAREUR level to prove it.

 

With any luck, the HSC Supply Company may go all the way to the winner’s circle at the Army level later this year.

 

“By winning, the Department of the Army will now come down to inspect us. That should be in the November-December timeframe. We don’t have an exact date yet,” Falcon said.

 

“Once they come, they do the evaluation. It’s not really an inspection; they just talk to you like normal people and evaluate you. But your adrenaline’s running. Even just getting put into the system, to be evaluated by DA, is an accomplishment. To be able to call home and say, ‘Hey, Mom, I won this.’ They’re so proud. It’s great.”

 

Though the big bulge in the python’s belly may have passed, there’s always something to prepare for removal from Army Africa’s inventory. Falcon and her staff of two soldiers and two contractors have another deadline looming Oct. 1.

 

“That’s a date we set on the heels of the DA Campaign Plan on Property Accountability to get rid of our excess,” said Chief Warrant Officer 4 Joachim Consiglio, USARAF G-4 Supply Division chief.

 

In the past week alone, HSC Supply accounted for and emptied three 20-foot cargo trailers, making the property available for removal to the Lerino Supply Support Activity, said Daniel Brown, G-4 Property Book Office.

 

“There were lots of technical inspections to turn in the paperwork. My main priority is — still to do my job, but focus on deadlines,” Falcon said.

 

“They’ve done an outstanding job; in fact, we’re ahead of schedule,” said Consiglio. “Our end state was Oct. 1, and at the rate the team has been executing, they will exceed the milestone date,” he said.

 

A visit to the supply company by USARAF Commander, Maj. Gen. David R. Hogg, in August had a positive effect on the overall process, Falcon said.

 

“We’ve always had support, but he put the word out. Everybody was . . . ‘What can we do to help?’ So now it’s a focus,” Falcon said. “By Oct. 1: everything gone. We can take care of it, we can do it right here ourselves.”

 

And with a little help from Army Africa’s friends in USAG Vicenza Directorate of Logistics, said Consiglio.

 

“Since requesting support from DoL, their director made us the priority for our excess turn-in, and this has been the key enabler in allowing us to surge at such a higher rate. Their staff has been fantastic, from the SSA support to doing technical inspections for us during the 45-day process,” he said.

 

What’s next after the Oct. 1 finish line?

 

“Just keeping up on the daily paperwork and the filing system,” said Spc. Benjamin Roalson. “Just the day-to-day thing that keeps us rolling.”

 

“The next benchmark is preparation for the DA CSA Supply Excellence competition, continual cultural awareness of supply discipline across the command, and monitoring lifecycle replacement,” said Consiglio.

 

Whatever follows, Falcon will be on the job and taking the lead. The Houston, Texas, native has taken to the trade, and to the Army too.

 

“I’m extending. I just got my grade,” Falcon said.

 

“I really enjoy working supply and logistics. It’s hard work; it’s long hours. I go home at the end of the day thinking there’s not enough hours in the day,” she said.

 

“Logistics is constant, constant, constant.”

  

To learn more about U.S. Army Africa visit our official website at www.usaraf.army.mil

 

Official Twitter Feed: www.twitter.com/usarmyafrica

 

Official YouTube video channel: www.youtube.com/usarmyafrica