Direct Action – Page 24 – Things Are Good

Explosive Coffee

In Ethiopia, a man uses spent shell casings to make coffee machines. I love it when people use former weapons of destruction to make something that can be used everyday in a constructive way. It shows a willingness to acknowledge the past while building a better today, plus some neat human ingenuity!

“The shells were dropped in Ethiopia during the war with Eritrea. They were dropped so people hid them in their homes and now they sell them,” Mr Azmeraw says.

“He cuts off the pointed ends, seals them and puts holes into the aluminium cylinder. The cylinder channels the water, coffee and milk.”

Echoing Green Fellowship

Echoing Green has a fellowship program that gives out up to $100,000 in seed money for a new organization that will make the world a better place.

This is a great idea for people have some fantastic ideas that al they need is some capital in order to start their project. There are tons of great things that you can start doing, and it never hurts to apply to these things. Echoing Green even has a place to read about what some people have done to make the world better.

Introducing……Agasel

Agasel You may have noticed a new name popping up around this site. Agasel has joined the team of volunteers that help spread good news around the world via this very website.

She brings with her a lot of knowledge of how traditional media functions and an interest in making the world a better place. Agasel is based in Vancouver, but looking for a more tropical climate to spend her life in that is conducive to her writing.

Agasel has already told us that we should do less homework and fashionable horseback riding.

You can get to know her personally at her blog.

Big Hearts Help Ship Fire Trucks

This is a heartwarming story of a group of people in the USA who had old fire trucks and shipped it to a place that could make good use of it. This is a great way to reuse equipment and make the world better! Thanks to Evan for finding this!

“Well, the town of Plymouth was able to scrounge up a few spare fire trucks, used, but in good working order; so why not ship them to Guinea-Bissau, along with an ambulance, and give the former Portuguese colony some peace of mind?
And that’s what is going to happen.

The country’s fire chief, Malam Djaura, will receive the keys to the equipment and training in how to operate them from Plymouth firefighters before the trucks and ambulance are shipped from New Jersey to West Africa.

These things, as improbable as they may seem, don’t happen in a vacuum. A Plymouth resident, David Applefield, who is a reporter for a newspaper in Guinea-Bissau, told his father, Jerry, about the fire. Jerry, in turn, mentioned it to state Rep. Vinny deMacedo, R-Plymouth. DeMacedo’s brother, Olavo bought one truck, and Jerry Applefield bought the other truck and ambulance, and Plymouth and Hanson fire officials threw in a bunch of hoses, connectors and other equipment. Olavo deMacedo even had one truck lettered and decorated with the Guinea-Bissau flag.”

Aid Workers Network Relaunches

The Aid Workers Network is “tired of re-inventing the wheel” and have decided to do something about it. AWN is a place for aid workers to share ideas, concerns, and help each other. It’s also a place to help people interested in working in the aid field.

Members can update their profile and have a blog on the site. It’s an online community for people around the world who want to save the world. The redesign got support from Oxfam and Red Cross and have helped the AWN focus their site to what aid workers need most from the site.