For (un)Official Use Only: rye barcott

Showing posts with label rye barcott. Show all posts

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Notes on Barcott's: It Happened on the Way to War

I am working on a book review of Rye Barcott's excellent It Happened On the Way to War: A Marine's Path to Peace Following are my notes on the first two-thirds of the book.

My thoughts after meeting Rye Barcott.
FAO Africa Recommended Reading List
ATTENTION: IS THE LIST ABOVE TOO OVERWHELMING? I'VE PUT TOGETHER A STARTER READING LIST HERE.

It Happened on the Way to War: A Marine’s Path to Peace Review

p. 27
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” -Margaret Mead, legendary anthropologist and one of Rye’s mother’s favorite quotes.

p. 28
Rye relates his moment of spiritual realization when “the force swept me into its embrace” following his near-drowning episode during his adolescence.

p. 30
“Reach out to a bunch of people and eventually a few will give a damn.” Ted Lord’s advice to Rye as he seeks a way to spend the summer in Rwanda

p. 33
Rye related the travails of networking: “I had spent 3 hours for a 10-second offer of an introduction that might be able to take me where I needed to go.”

p.36
Rye’s Rwanda plans are scrapped and professor Jennifer Coffman suggests Kibera. Rye’s begins anew searching for the next 5% who gave a damn.

CHAPTER TWO FIST BUMP (BIG GOTA)
p. 38
“Did poverty alone make people less trustworthy” Rye ponders after conversation with Kenyan businessman on flight to Nairobi.

p. 40
Kenyan couple can’t comprehend that someone would only have one child (BIG cultural difference).

p. 41
Rye gets his Kenyan nickname: Omosh, based on the time of day he was born from Elizabeth and Oluoch.

The Challenge of Nationhood by Tom Mboya

p. 42
In the book, Mboya points out that: “the second generation leadership would inherit a framework that is so dependent on personality that it cannot survive the person on whom it depended. This could bring with it a phases of deep political problems—tribalism, personality cults, foreign intervention and even military coup. (march 1960, six years after Kenya’s independence. 4 months later he was assassinated.

p. 45 “Sheng” is the language of the youth in the slums, an extreme slang of Swahili

p. 46 The railroad tracks separate Kibera from Nairobi (part of the Kenya-Uganda railway). VERY poorly maintained.

p. 47 The thumbs-up is a sign of the NDP and ‘mzungu’ means white person.

p. 48 Rye describes the sounds of life inside Dan’s compound in Kibera. These sounds could be the start of a movie…or even combine into a song for the movie: boy’s shout, dog’s bark, man’s cough, door slaps shut, water splashes, broom whisks, pickaxes ping, stereos rattle music etc…

p. 53 While it seems a little callous that Rye is so hesitant to share/donate his money to someone like Baba Chris (even though it’s only $7)…it’s also important to note that mids don’t get paid anything at all (or at the most $50 a month).

'Lighting Up Africa' or 'A great way to spend $30' or 'Opportunity comes knocking...as a flashlight'

'Lighting Up Africa' or 'A great way to spend $30' or 'Opportunity comes knocking...as a flashlight'

Because I spent $30 today and a young girl will read one night a thousand miles away

I am about 2/3 of the way through Rye Barcott’s excellent memoir “It Happened on the Way to War: A Marine’s Path to Peace.” One of the reasons that I use the adjective ‘excellent’ is because his book is one that inspires. His organization Carolina For Kibera (http://cfk.unc.edu/) is truly a grass-roots organization run BY the people of Kibera.

Well I am happy today to write about a US company that also inspires; a company that is literally lighting hearts and minds across Africa and the globe. That company’s name is SunNight Solar and they make and distribute highly-reliable, long-lasting solar-powered flashlights. SunNight Solar was started by a former Marine (see my previous blog post on what I think about Marines) turned entrepreneur (a bit redundant as Marines are the original entrepreneurs) that refused to accept that 2 billion people didn’t have light at night. You can read the company’s excellent position paper regarding the use of the flashlights in Afghanistan here (also available through a google search).

BOGO, the name of the flashlight, comes from “Buy One Give One” à la Toms Shoes (which by the way I love because when I wear them I feel like I am in one of those old Kung Fu films and act accordingly, much to the chagrin of my lovely and infinitely patient wife). So when you buy one of the flashlights ($30-60) you are given the chance to designate an NGO to receive the flashlight. When that NGO has enough flashlights in their ‘queue’ they are shipped out (these mass shipments save money and are efficient). I like this method because SunNight Solar doesn’t try to be an expert in determing the areas that receive the flashlights, instead they leave that to the pre-established NGO’s already doing the work on the ground. And I like these flashlights because their rechargeable batteries last for two years and the light itself lasts for something like 20 years; they are also environmentally clean and better for the users’ health (especially when compared with the ubiquitous kerosene lamps) . I also found it interesting that the technology that created the final version of these flashlights was actually done through a collaborative research effort similar to the one being used by NPS for their anti-piracy MMOWGLI game.

These flashlights represent an opportunity for you and I to help and make a real difference but also represent an opportunity for the United States to “win hearts and minds” in Africa preemptively before there’s a cause/need/conflict for us to intervene. I’d personally like to have the choice to donate flashlights through my CFC contribution. However, this might be difficult to implement since BOGO is a private-for-profit company (that happens to also be extremely generous). Incidentally though, you can designate CFK on your CFC contribution (#11016).

Finally, I included a plethora of links and articles that provide more background information on everything that I mentioned here.

Now, take 5 minutes and go to the BOGO light website and spend $30. One of my favorite lines from Barcott’s book is the following mantra: Talent is universal, opportunity is not. When you buy one of these lights, you will not only get a great flashlight, but you will be giving a child that lives in a village/shantytown/slum/tent a healthier life and you most importantly will be giving that child opportunity—the opportunity to read/study after the sun goes down, the opportunity to receive medical treatment when he/she needs it, ultimately the opportunity that we take for granted every time we walk into our home and flip that switch by the front door.

LINKS:
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=3&ved=0CCYQFjAC&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.scribd.com%2Fdoc%2F19122053%2FAfghanistan-Position-Paper&ei=bgbxTdSkNKb30gGu98G9BA&usg=AFQjCNFnAPkS7qifpjIJOu95KQMCcOV-DQ&sig2=uTcN45wcmGmo7Gw-RxWqpQ
http://www.cfr.org/energyenvironment/roll-back-darkness-sustainable-cost-effective-way/p19826
http://www.bogolight.com/
http://www.opencongress.org/bill/111-h3836/show
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hK9mfO-cR40
Rep. Steve Israel (D - New York) speaks on the floor of the House of Representatives about the State and Foreign Operations House Appropriations bill. Rep. Israel discusses the Solar Villages Initiative and the National Solidarity Programme in Afghanistan.
http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1721082,00.html
http://halife.com/living/2_easy_ways_to_rejoice_even_on_a_bad_day.html

http://www.isobelcoleman.com/2010/04/20/huffington-post-roll-back-the-darkness-in-a-sustainable-cost-effective-way/

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rep-steve-israel/roll-back-the-darkness-in_b_230935.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/25/opinion/25fri4.html

http://www.toms.com/

http://www.opm.gov/cfc/

http://fuuo.blogspot.com/2011/05/it-happened-on-way-to-exchange-marines.html

http://fuuo.blogspot.com/2011/06/mmowgli-anti-somali-piracy-online-game.html

http://fuuo.blogspot.com/2011/05/navy-calls-on-gamers-to-unite-to-defeat.html

http://fuuo.blogspot.com/2011/06/s-afrcia-mozambique-join-forces-to.html

http://fuuo.blogspot.com/2010/11/happy-birthday-marine-corps-from-marine.html

http://fuuo.blogspot.com/2010/08/pentagon-truth-ism-3-marine-flags.html

NOTE: CFK and BOGO aren’t connected—yet (I wrote on CFK’s FACEBOOK wall about the possibility of the two linking up).

Friday, May 13, 2011

It Happened on the Way to the Exchange: A Marine's Book Signing

This past Tuesday a friend and I went to a book signing at the Henderson Hall Exchange with Rye Barcott, the author of It Happened on the Way to War: A Marine's Path to Peace. We were the only two officers there amongst a squad from a corporals' class and so we were privileged to listen in to their discussion with the author about his books. And as the son of a Marine, I am always pumped to be around the young men and women that comprise the backbone of the Corps.

One can tell a lot about someone from the way in which they interact with their subordinates and Barcott was genuinely excited to be in the company of young Marines (Barcott served 4 years active duty and 4 years reserve in the Marine Corps). He spoke about the peaks and valleys of his time in the Corps and in Kenya candidly and sincerely. It was refreshing to hear such humility from such a gifted speaker and an individual who has done so much, who has given so much of himself. As Barcott concluded, he prodded the Marines for questions and solicited their opinions. Before their group left, he shook each of their hands and handed them his business card, asking if they would let him know what they thought of his book or if they just had questions for him.

I am already about 30 pages into the book and I can tell you that the 9 years during which Barcott penned this memoir, during which he poured his heart and soul were well spent (Not to mention that it's been lauded by none other than Stephen Pressfield! Stephen Pressfield! is one of my favorite writers, period...well except for Killing Rommel which I found hard to get through).

The premise of Barcott's work in Kibera is derived from the idea that "Talent is universal; opportunity is not." I will update this blog periodically with my thoughts as I work through his book and see how this idea evolved.

For my West Coast readers, Barcott will be doing a book signing this Monday, 16 May at Warwick's in La Jolla, CA. It's an event that will be well worth your time.